Penning trap mass spectrometry on short-lived radionuclides

Penning traps can be used as mass spectrometers of extremely high resolving power, accuracy and sensitivity. To adapt them to mass measurements on short-lived isotopes, methods have been developed to capture ions in flight in ion traps, to cool them and to determine their mass via a measurement of the cyclotron frequency. The tandem Penning trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP, which incorporates these techniques, is installed at the on-line mass separator ISOLDE at CERN, Geneva. Mass data are presented for 62 radionuclides to date. Other project based on this technology that are just beginning are reported. Possibilities of extending the techniques to very short lived radionuclides are discussed. (orig.)Available from TIB Hannover: RO 801(94-48) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman