Orateur
Description
Optical spectral lines serve as unique fingerprints for the elements and provide the most precise means to study their electronic structure, as well as reveal properties of atomic nuclei. Atomic spectroscopy has been advancing towards ever heavier atomic species, with superheavy elements (SHE) being of particular interest due to their role in understanding nuclear stability at the top of the nuclear chart.
Currently, it has reached as far as nobelium (Z = 102), which has been studied via resonance ionization spectroscopy [1, 2]. The spectra of even heavier elements have remained elusive, primarily due to the short half-lives of the radionuclides combined with low production rates in nuclear fusion-evaporation reactions, requiring faster measurements and higher experimental sensitivities.
A potential solution to overcome these obstacles is the newly conceived technique of laser resonance chromatography (LRC) [3], which combines laser probing with ion mobility spectrometry. LRC reveals the resonant laser excitation from if an ion from the ground to an excited state by the change in its drift time towards a particle detector for different electronic states. This method circumvents the need for resonance ionization and fluorescence detection, allowing for a fast and sensitive laser spectroscopy of next heavy elements such as lawrencium (Z=103) and rutherfordium (Z=104) [4, 5], as well as some SHEs of extremely reduced production rates.
In this contribution I will present the LRC technique and discuss the SIMION simulation efforts dedicated to the development of the steering and detection section of the LRC experiment, as well as present the experimental design to be implemented at the S3 installation of GANIL/SPIRAL2 for the LRC study of neutron-deficient actinium (Z = 89) and lawrencium isotopes.
References:
[1] M. Laatiaoui et al., Nature 538 (2016) 495.
[2] J. Lantis et al., Phys. Rev. Res. 6 (2024) 023318
[3] M. Laatiaoui et al., PRL 125 (2020) 023002.
[4] H. Ramanantoanina et al., Phys. Rev. A (2021) 022813
[5] G.Visentin et al., Phys. Rev. A (2024) 012805
S3 has been funded by the French Research Ministry, National Research Agency (ANR), through the EQUIPEX (EQUIPment of EXcellence) reference ANR-10EQPX- 46, the FEDER (Fonds Européen de Développement Economique et Régional), the CPER (Contrat Plan Etat Région) E2S2 and E2S3, and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Physics, under contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 and by the E.C.FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES 2007, SPIRAL2 Preparatory Phase, Grant agreement No.: 212692.