Penning trap mass spectrometry of radionuclides

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• First Penning trap mass spectrometry of radionuclides and first separation of isomers.
• First application of the Ramsey technique to Penning trap mass spectrometry.
• Highest accuracy and resolving power achieved for mass spectrometry of radionuclides.
• Invention of a new cooling technique for Penning traps.
• Invention of a cooling, accumulating, and bunching device for radioactive beams.

Trapping and cooling techniques play an increasingly important role in many areas of science. This publication focuses on high-accuracy mass spectrometry of radionuclides by use of Penning traps where storing and cooling is also essential. The pioneering set-up, the very first Penning trap installed at a radioactive-beam facility was ISOLTRAP, still in operation after almost thirty years at the on-line isotope separator ISOLDE at CERN. This publication describes how ISOLTRAP was developed over the years as a high-performance mass spectrometer. In the meantime, the application of Penning traps to mass spectrometry of short-lived nuclei became very popular so that such systems are operated or planned at nearly all radioactivebeam facilities worldwide.