Laser Ionization...

The heaviest elements of Mendeleev's table form an intriguing research laboratory of interest for nuclear, atomic and astrophysics, but information on the nuclear and atomic structure is scarce.Recently a new method to perform laser ionization spectroscopy studies in a noble gas-jet environment was proposed. This should allow to study the atomic structure of short-lived, weakly produced isotopes from the heavy elements including nobelium, lawrencium and deduce nuclear observables that will validate state-of-the-art nuclear model calculations.

The in-gas-jet laser ionization and spectroscopy (IGLIS) method, based on embedding the radioactive atoms of interest in a supersonic gas jet produced bya ‘De Laval’ nozzle, is currently under development at KU Leuven and will be installed for studies of isotopes in the actinide region and beyond.Experimental campaigns will take place at the GSI-SHIP setup and at the new heavy-ion accelerator and Super Separator Spectrometer (S3) currently under construction at GANIL (France). The recently commissioned laser and mass separator laboratory at KU Leuven is dedicated to the study of the IGLIS method for stable or long-lived radioactive isotopes as well as for short-lived isotopes produced as alpha-decay products from long-lived actinide sources.

With this position, the candidate will characterize and optimize the De Laval nozzles for supersonic gas jet formation. The aim is to produce a homogeneous, low-temperature gas jet and to perform laser ionization spectroscopy with spectral resolution of the order of100 MHz. Further, she/he will investigate and characterize efficient, selective and sensitive atomic ionization schemes of actinides in gaseous environments.The combined knowledge will be used to perform laser spectroscopy on short-lived radioactive isotopes from recoil-alpha sources and perform the first high-resolution on-line laser spectroscopy measurements on neutron-deficient actinium and thorium isotopes at GANIL-S3. These results will be compared to state-of-the-art atomic and nuclear model calculations.