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Magneto optical traps (MOT) allow the cooling and storing of neutral atoms in a volume of a few cubic millimeters by use of laser beams and a magnetic field. Such devices offer new and exciting opportunities for precision measurements of radioactive isotopes. Here we present experiments performed with a double-MOT system coupled to the on-line separator TISOL at TRIUMF/Vancouver, Canada. For the first time, the Β-decay of free atoms stored in such a device could be observed. We report on coincidence measurements between beta-particles and the argon recoils in the decay of 37K and 38rm{m}}K. The charge state ratios of the recoil-ions were deduced by Time-Of-Flight separation in an acceleration field. The final goal of those investigations is a precision test of the Standard Model by measuring the –nu-correlation parameter a.

We have tested and developed an ion beam apparatus for transporting alkali atoms made in heavy-ion reactions. Stopped recoils diffuse out of a hot thick target, are surface ionized, and extracted into a low-energy ion beam with efficiencies of approximately 20%. The ions are then neutralized for injection into a magneto-optic trap.