Search

The LPCTrap setup is a transparent Paul trap dedicated to the measurement of the β- ν correlation coefficient a in the β decay of trapped radioactive nuclides. In a first experiment, the system has been used to record ∼10 coincidences between the β particles and recoiling ions emitted from the decay of He ions. The analysis of the collected data has already shown that the size of the He ion cloud confined in the Paul trap is a critical parameter, potentially limiting the accuracy on the a measurement. We report here the precise determination of the trapped ion cloud temperature and size. This was performed by extracting the trapped ions toward a position sensitive micro channel plate detector at different phases of the RF driving field. We find a temperature T = 0.107(7) eV, consistent with the temperature values inferred using two other observables but 20% higher than the temperature T = 0.09 eV predicted by realistic simulations of the ions interacting with the H buffer gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The LPCTrap experiment is devoted to the precise measurement of the β- ν angular correlation parameter, a, in the pure Gamow-Teller decay of He. This experiment is motivated by the search of the presence of tensor type contributions in the weak interaction. The radioactive source is confined in a transparent Paul trap installed at LIRAT, the low energy beam line of the SPIRAL facility. The β- ν correlation is studied by measuring the time of flight of the recoil ions detected in coincidence with the β particles. During the last experiment, a total of 4 × 10 coincidence events have been recorded which would enable to determine the coefficient with a statistical uncertainty of 0.5%. The status of the analysis is presented in this contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The LPCTrap facility is coupled to the low-energy beam line LIRAT of the SPIRAL source at GANIL (France). The facility comprises an RFQ trap for beam preparation and a transparent Paul trap for in-trap decay studies. The system has been tested for several ion species. The Paul trap has been fully characterized for 6Li+ and 23Na+ ions. This characterization together with GEANT4 simulations of the in-trap decay setup (Paul trap and detection system) has permitted to predict the effect of the size of the ion cloud on the decay study of 6He+. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the status of the LPCTrap experiment, devoted to measure the β–ν angular correlation in the pure Gamow–Teller decay of 6He. This measurement is motivated by the search for the presence of tensor type contributions to the weak interaction. The 6He ions are confined in a novel transparent Paul trap. The β particles and the recoil ions are detected in coincidence to deduce the angular correlation parameter. The commissioning run performed in 2005 has given the proof of principle of this experiment. Up to 105 coincidences were recorded during a second run in 2006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]