Towards high-accuracy mass spectrometry of highly charged short-lived ions at ISOLTRAP

Multiply charged ions of stable xenon isotopes from a plasma ion source have been mass-selected by the on-line mass separator ISOLDE/CERN and delivered to the triple-trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP. The doubly charged ions that survived the charge-exchange processes during bunching and ion preparation were transferred to a precision Penning trap for mass determination. Mass values were obtained for the isotopes with mass numbers A=126,129,130,136. They are consistent with previous results except for the case of Xe126 where a significant deviation from the literature value was found. The performance of ISOLTRAP is analyzed with respect to a future application of highly charged ions for mass determination of short-lived radionuclides at ISOLDE.