Penning trap mass spectrometry of radionuclides

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (128 K)Download as PowerPoint slideHighlights•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.