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A low-energy branch is under development for the MARA vacuum-mode recoil separator at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyvaskyla. This development will allow for the study of proton-rich nuclei through laser ionisation spectroscopy and mass measurements. After stopping and extraction from a buffer gas cell, the ions of interest will be accelerated and transported to dedicated experimental setups by an ion transport system consisting of several focusing, accelerating and mass-separating elements. This article presents the current design and simulations for the ion transport.

Radioactive $^{233}$U alpha recoil sources are being considered for the production of a thorium ion source to study the low-energy isomer in $^{229}$Th with high-resolution collinear laser spectroscopy at the IGISOL facility of the University of Jyv\"askyl\"a. In this work two different $^{233}$U sources have been characterized via alpha and gamma spectroscopy of the decay radiation obtained directly from the sources and from alpha-recoils embedded in implantation foils. These measurements revealed rather low $^{229}$Th recoil efficiencies of only a few percent. Although the low efficiency of one of the two sources can be attributed to its inherent thickness, the low recoil efficiency of the second, thinner source, was unexpected. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) was performed to investigate the elemental composition as a function of depth revealing a contamination layer on top of the thin source. The combination of spectroscopic methods proves to be a useful approach in the assessment of alpha recoil source performance in general., Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, 1 table, submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods B, EMIS 2018

Preprint of the "virtual Workshop on the Atomic Structure of Actinides & Related Topics" conference proceedings submitted to the special issue of Atoms "Atomic Structure of the Heaviest Elements". In the development context of a gas-cell laser ion source, we report in this article the observation of prominent phenomena in the laser resonant ionization process specific to the gaseous environment. In this study we address the significant sensitivity reduction of a plutonium laser ionization scheme developed in vacuum, which indicates a strong competition between the laser excitation process and collisional deexcitation due to the buffer gas atoms. Collisional effects of actinide elements with noble gasses have been previously reported, especially for low-lying excited states, nontheless collisional de-excitation effects remain mostly unknown in the excited states, and are likely enhanced by the very high atomic level density within this region.

Poster presented for the Physics Days 2021 conference series. Thedifferent aspectsthat will be investigated at IGISOL within the LISA network are presented giving a schematic overview of the facility.

Understanding the evolution of the nuclear charge radius is one of the long-standing challenges for nuclear theory. Recently, density functional theory calculations utilizing Fayans functionals have successfully reproduced the charge radii of a variety of exotic isotopes. However, difficulties in the isotope production have hindered testing these models in the immediate region of the nuclear chart below the heaviest self-conjugate doubly-magic nucleus 100Sn, where the near-equal number of protons (Z) and neutrons (N) lead to enhanced neutron-proton pairing. Here, we present an optical excursion into this region by crossing the N = 50 magic neutron number in the silver isotopic chain with the measurement of the charge radius of 96Ag (N = 49). The results provide a challenge for nuclear theory: calculations are unable to reproduce the pronounced discontinuity in the charge radii as one moves below N = 50. The technical advancements in this work open the N = Z region below 100Sn for further optical studies, which will lead to more comprehensive input for nuclear theory development., Laser spectroscopic measurements of isotopes near the doubly-magic 100-Sn are challenging due to difficulties in their production. Here the authors measure the ground state charge radius of the proton-rich 96-Ag isotope and find a discontinuity in the nuclear size when crossing the neutron number N equal to 50.

Filament-based dispensers of thorium have been investigated at the IGISOL facility, Jyvaskyla, for potential use as a thorium ion source for future collinear laser spectroscopy experiments. Several different filaments were manufactured in the Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics of TU Wien, with 232Th and 229Th prepared on tantalum substrates either by drying thorium nitrate solution or via molecular plating, while adding a layer of zirconium for oxide reduction. The filaments were characterized in a helium-filled gas cell by performing selective and efficient in-gas-cell resonance laser ionization and by analyzing the resulting ion beams by mass spectrometry. Additionally, the in-gas-cell laser ionization process of thorium was further characterized by wavelength scans, saturation measurements and by recording the temporal behavior of extracted ion pulses. Although an ion source was successfully created with mass-separated intensities over 10 6 ions/s, the required high filament temperature resulted in significant contributions from interfering impurities and deterioration of the filament structure.

Accurate mass measurements of neutron-rich iron and cobalt isotopes $^{67}\mathrm{Fe}$ and $^{69,70}\mathrm{Co}$ have been realized with the JYFLTRAP double Penning-trap mass spectrometer. With novel ion-manipulation techniques, the masses of the $^{69,70}\mathrm{Co}$ ground states and the $1/{2}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ isomer in $^{69}\mathrm{Co}$ have been extracted for the first time. The measurements remove ambiguities in the previous mass values and yield a smoother trend on the mass surface, extending it beyond $N=40$. The moderate $N=40$ subshell gap has been found to weaken below $^{68}\mathrm{Ni}$, a region known for shape coexistence and increased collectivity. The excitation energy for the $1/{2}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ intruder state in $^{69}\mathrm{Co}$ has been determined for the first time and is compared to large-scale shell-model calculations. The new mass values also reduce significantly mass-related uncertainties for the astrophysical rapid neutron-capture process calculations.

An off-line ion source station has been commissioned at the IGISOL (Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line) facility. It offers the infrastructure needed to produce stable ion beams from three off-line ion sources in parallel with the radioactive ion beams produced from the IGISOL target chamber. This has resulted in improved feasibility for new experiments by offering reference ions for Penning-trap mass measurements, laser spectroscopy and atom trap experiments., Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods

6 pags., 3 figs., 1 tab. -- 27th International Nuclear Physics Conference (INPC2019) 29 July - 2 August 2019, Glasgow, UK, In this contribution we summarize the recent study of the β decay of neutron-rich nuclei with isomeric states close in energy to the ground states. The disentanglement of each pair of β-decaying states was achieved by applying different strategies and using the purification capabilities of the JYFLTRAP double Penning trap system at the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line facility in Jyväskylä. The Total Absorption γ-ray Spectroscopy technique was employed to determine the β intensity probabilities populating the excited states in the daughter nuclei. Previously undetected β intensity was found and we have already evaluated the impact of part of these results on reactor summation calculations. The possibility to populate states associated with the Pygmy Dipole Resonance in the β decay of 96gsY has also been investigated thanks to the sensitivity of our technique to high-lying strength in the daughter nuclei., This work has been supported by the CNRS challenge NEEDS and the associated NACRE project, as well as by the Spanish Ministerio de Econom´ıa y Competitividad under Grants No. FPA2011-24553, No. AIC-A-2011-0696, No. FPA2014-52823-C2-1-P, No. FPA2015-65035-P, No. FPI/BES-2014-068222, No. FPA2017-83946-C2-1-P and the program Severo Ochoa (SEV-2014-0398), by the Spanish Ministerio de Educacion under the FPU12/01527 Grant, by the European Commission under the FP7/EURATOM contract 605203 and the FP7/ENSAR contract 262010, and by the Junta para la Ampliacion de Estudios ´ Programme (CSIC JAE-Doc contract) co-financed by ESF.

For the production of exotic nuclei at the IGISOL facility, an ion guide for neutron-induced fission has been developed and tested in experiments. Fission fragments are produced inside the ion guide and collected using a helium buffer gas. Meanwhile, a GEANT4 model has been developed to simulate the transportation and stopping of the charged fission products. In a recent measurement of neutron-induced fission yields, implantation foils were located at different positions in the ion guide. The gamma spectra from these foils and the fission targets are compared to the results from the GEANT4 simulation. In order to allow fission yield measurements in the low yield regions, towards the tails and in the symmetric part of the mass distribution, the stopping and extraction efficiency of the ion guide has to be significantly improved. This objective can be achieved by increasing the size while introducing electric field guidance using a combination of static electrodes and an RF-carpet. To this end, the GEANT4 model is used to optimise the design of such an ion guide.

Isomeric states in 128In and 130In have been studied with the JYFLTRAP Penning trap at the IGISOL facility. By employing state-of-the-art ion manipulation techniques, three different beta-decaying states in 128In and 130In have been separated and their masses measured. JYFLTRAP was also used to select the ions of interest for identification at a post-trap decay spectroscopy station. A new beta-decaying high-spin isomer feeding the isomer in 128Sn has been discovered in 128In at 1797.6(20) keV. Shell-model calculations employing a CD-Bonn potential re-normalized with the perturbative G-matrix approach suggest this new isomer to be a 16⁺ spin-trap isomer. In 130In, the lowest-lying (10⁻) isomeric state at 58.6(82) keV was resolved for the first time using the phase-imaging ion cyclotron resonance technique. The energy difference between the 10⁻ and 1⁻ states in 130In, stemming from parallel/antiparallel coupling of (π0g-19/2) ⊗ (v0h-111/2), has been found to be around 200 keV lower than predicted by the shell model. Precise information on the energies of the excited states determined in this work is crucial for producing new improved effective interactions for the nuclear shell model description of nuclei near 132Sn.

12 pags., 6 figs., 3 tabs., In β-decay studies the determination of the decay probability to the ground state (g.s.) of the daughter nucleus often suffers from large systematic errors. The difficulty of the measurement is related to the absence of associated delayed γ -ray emission. In this work we revisit the 4π γ − β method proposed by Greenwood and collaborators in the 1990s, which has the potential to overcome some of the experimental difficulties. Our interest is driven by the need to determine accurately the β-intensity distributions of fission products that contribute significantly to the reactor decay heat and to the antineutrinos emitted by reactors. A number of such decays have large g.s. branches. The method is relevant for nuclear structure studies as well. Pertinent formulas are revised and extended to the special case of β-delayed neutron emitters, and the robustness of the method is demonstrated with synthetic data. We apply it to a number of measured decays that serve as test cases and discuss the features of the method. Finally, we obtain g.s. feeding intensities with reduced uncertainty for four relevant decays that will allow future improvements in antineutrino spectrum and decay heat calculations using the summation method., This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under Grants No. FPA2011- 24553, No. AIC-A-2011-0696, No. FPA2014-52823-C2- 1-P, No. FPA2015-65035-P, No. FPI/BES-2014-068222, No. FPA2017-83946-C2-1-P, and No. RTI2018-098868-BI00 and the program Severo Ochoa (SEV-2014-0398); by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación under Grant No. FPU12/01527; by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under Grant No. PID2019-104714GB-C21; by the European Commission under CHANDA project funded under FP7-EURATOM-FISSION Grant No. 605203; the FP7/ENSAR Contract No. 262010; the SANDA project funded under H2020-EURATOM-1.1 Grant No. 847552; the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant No. 771036 (ERC CoG MAIDEN); by the Generalitat Valenciana regional funds PROMETEO/2019/007/; and by the Junta para la Ampliacion de Estudios ´ Programme (CSIC JAE-Doc contract) co-financed by ESF. We acknowledge the support of the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Grant No. ST/P005314/1; of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) under Grant No. PPN/ULM/2019/1/00220; and of the National Science Center, Poland, under Contract No. 2019/35/D/ST2/02081. This work was also supported by the Academy of Finland under the Finnish Centre of Excellence Programme (Project No. 213503, Nuclear and Accelerator-Based Physics Research at JYFL). A.K. and T.E. acknowledge support from the Academy of Finland under Projects No. 275389 and No. 295207, respectively. This work has also been supported by the CNRS challenge NEEDS and the associated NACRE project, the CNRS/in2p3 PICS TAGS between Subatech and IFIC, and the CNRS/in2p3 Master projects Jyvaskyla and OPALE.

The production of very neutron-rich nuclides heavier than fission fragments is an ongoing experimental challenge. Multi-nucleon transfer reactions (MNT) have been suggested as a method to produce these nuclides. By thermalizing the reaction products in gas-filled stopping cells, we can deliver them as cooled high-quality beams to decay, laser and mass spectrometry experiments. High precision mass spectrometry will allow for the first time to universally and unambiguously identify the atomic and proton numbers of the ions produced in MNT reactions. In this way their ground and isomeric state properties can be studied in high-precision measurements. In experiments at IGISOL, Finland and at FRS Ion Catcher, Germany, we have done and will perform broadband measurements of the reaction products, with the aim to improve the understanding of the reaction mechanism and to determine the properties of the ground and isomeric states of the produced nuclides. First results and preparations for upcoming experiments are presented.

The European physical journal / A 56(5), 143 (2020). doi:10.1140/epja/s10050-020-00153-5, Published by Springer, Heidelberg

We report on the design, installation, and test of an experimental facility for the production of ultra-cold atomic isotopes and isomers of cesium. The setup covers a broad span of mass numbers and nuclear isomers, allowing one to directly compare chains of isotopes and isotope/isomer pairs. Cesium nuclei are produced by fission or fusion-evaporation reactions using primary proton beams from a 130 MeV cyclotron impinging upon a suitable target. The species of interest is ejected from the target in ionic form, electrostatically accelerated, mass separated, and routed to a science chamber. Here, ions are neutralized by implantation in a thin foil, and extracted by thermal diffusion. A neutral vapor at room temperature is thus formed and trapped in a magneto-optical trap. Real-time fluorescence imaging and destructive absorption imaging provide information on the number of trapped atoms, their density, and their temperature. Tests with a dedicated beam of $^{133}$Cs$^{+}$ ions at 30 keV energy confirm neutralization, evaporation, and laser cooling to 150 $\mu$K, with an average atomic density of 10$^{10}$ cm$^{-3}$. Availability of cold and dense atomic samples of Cs isotopes and isomers opens new avenues for high-precision measurements of isotopic and isomeric shifts thereby gaining deeper insight into the nuclear structure, as well as for sensitive measurements of isotopes' concentration ratios in trace quantities. The facility also constitutes the core for future experiments of many-body physics with nuclear isomers., Comment: 11 pages; 12 figures

We report the first detection of the second-forbidden, nonunique, 2+→0+, ground-state transition in the β decay of F20. A low-energy, mass-separated F+20 beam produced at the IGISOL facility in Jyvaskyla, Finland, was implanted in a thin carbon foil and the β spectrum measured using a magnetic transporter and a plastic-scintillator detector. The β-decay branching ratio inferred from the measurement is bβ=[0.41±0.08(stat)±0.07(sys)]×10-5 corresponding to logft=10.89(11), making this one of the strongest second-forbidden, nonunique β transitions ever measured. The experimental result is supported by shell-model calculations and has significant implications for the final evolution of stars that develop degenerate oxygen-neon cores. Using the new experimental data, we argue that the astrophysical electron-capture rate on Ne20 is now known to within better than 25% at the relevant temperatures and densities. (Less)

The decays of the β-delayed neutron emitters I137 and Rb95 have been studied with the total absorption γ-ray spectroscopy technique. The purity of the beams provided by the JYFLTRAP Penning trap at the ion guide isotope separator on-line facility in Jyvaskyla allowed us to carry out a campaign of isotopically pure measurements with the decay total absorption γ-ray spectrometer, a segmented detector composed of 18 NaI(Tl) modules. The contamination coming from the interaction of neutrons with the spectrometer has been carefully studied, and we have tested the use of time differences between prompt γ rays and delayed neutron interactions to eliminate this source of contamination. Due to the sensitivity of our spectrometer, we have found a significant amount of β intensity to states above the neutron separation energy that deexcite by γ rays, comparable to the neutron emission probability. The competition between γ deexcitation and neutron emission has been compared with Hauser-Feshbach calculations, and it can be understood as a nuclear structure effect. In addition, we have studied the impact of the β-intensity distributions determined in this work on reactor decay heat and reactor antineutrino spectrum summation calculations. The robustness of our results is demonstrated by a thorough study of uncertainties and with the reproduction of the spectra of the individual modules and the module-multiplicity gated spectra. This work represents the state-of-the-art of our analysis methodology for segmented total absorption spectrometers.

Monoisotopic samples of $^{107}\mathrm{Nb}$ nuclei, produced in the proton-induced fission of $^{238}\mathrm{U}$ and separated using the IGISOL mass separator coupled to a Penning trap, were used to perform $\ensuremath{\beta}$- and $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-coincidence spectroscopy of $^{107}\mathrm{Mo}$. Gamma transitions and excited levels in $^{107}\mathrm{Mo}$ were observed in $\ensuremath{\beta}$ decay for the first time. Spin and parity $1/{2}^{+}$ for the ground state of $^{107}\mathrm{Mo}$ is proposed, to replace the previous $5/{2}^{+}$ assignment. The experimental $\ensuremath{\beta}$-decay half-life of $^{107}\mathrm{Nb}$ was estimated to be $0.27\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02$ s.

Physical review / C covering nuclear physics 99(6), 064313 (2019). doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.99.064313, Published by Inst., Woodbury, NY

A novel method for simultaneous measurement of masses, Q-values, isomer excitation energies, half-lives and decay branching ratios of exotic nuclei has been demonstrated. The method includes first use of a stopping cell as an ion trap, combining containment of precursors and decay-recoils for variable durations in a cryogenic stopping cell (CSC), and afterwards the identification and counting of them by a multiple-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MR-TOF-MS). Feasibility has been established by recording the decay and growth of $^{216}$Po and $^{212}$Pb (alpha decay) and of $^{119m2}$Sb (t$_{1/2}$ = 850$\pm$90 ms) and $^{119g}$Sb (isomer transition), obtaining half-lives and branching ratios consistent with literature values. Hardly any non-nuclear-decay losses have been observed in the CSC for up to $\sim$10 seconds, which exhibits its extraordinary cleanliness. For $^{119}$Sb, this is the first direct measurement of the ground and second isomeric state masses, resolving the discrepancies in previous excitation energy data. These results pave the way for the measurement of branching ratios of exotic nuclei with multiple decay channels., 11 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to European Physics Journal A

Even mass neutron-rich niobium isotopes are among the principal contributors to the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum. They are also among the most challenging to measure due to the refractory nature of niobium, and because they exhibit isomeric states lying very close in energy. The beta-intensity distributions of Nb-100gs,Nb-100m and Nb-102gs,Nb-02m beta decays have been determined using the total absorption.-ray spectroscopy technique. The measurements were performed at the upgraded Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line facility at the University of Jyvaskyla. Here, the double Penning trap system JYFLTRAP was employed to disentangle the beta decay of the isomeric states. The new data obtained in this challenging measurement have a large impact in antineutrino summation calculations. For the first time the discrepancy between the summation model and the reactor antineutrino measurements in the region of the shape distortion has been reduced.

15 pags. 17 figs., 5 tabs., The β-intensity distributions of the decays of Nb100gs,100m and Nb102gs,102m have been determined using the total absorption γ-ray spectroscopy technique. The JYFLTRAP double Penning trap system was employed in a campaign of challenging measurements performed with the decay total absorption γ-ray spectrometer at the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line facility in Jyväskylä. Different strategies were applied to disentangle the isomeric states involved, lying very close in energy. The low-spin component of each niobium case was populated through the decay of the zirconium parent, which was treated as a contaminant. We have applied a method to extract this contamination, and additionally we have obtained β-intensity distributions for these zirconium decays. The β-strength distributions evaluated with these results were compared with calculations in a quasiparticle random-phase approximation, suggesting a prolate configuration for the ground states of Zr100,102. The footprint of the Pandemonium effect was found when comparing our results for the analyses of the niobium isotopes with previous decay data. The β-intensities of the decay of Nb102m, for which there were no previous data, were obtained. A careful evaluation of the uncertainties was carried out, and the consistency of our results was validated taking advantage of the segmentation of our spectrometer. The final results were used as input in reactor summation calculations. A large impact on antineutrino spectrum calculations was already reported, and here we detail the significant impact on decay heat calculations., This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under Grants No. FPA2011- 24553, No. AIC-A-2011-0696, No. FPA2014-52823-C2-1- P, No. FPA2015-65035-P, No. FPI/BES-2014-068222, No. FPA2017-83946-C2-1-P, and the program Severo Ochoa (SEV-2014-0398), by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación under the FPU12/01527 Grant, by the European Commission under the FP7/EURATOM Contract No. 605203 and the FP7/ENSAR Contract No. 262010, and by the Junta para la Ampliación de Estudios Programme (CSIC JAE-Doc contract) co-financed by ESF. We acknowledge the support of the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Grant No. ST/P005314/1. This work was also supported by the Academy of Finland under the Finnish Centre of Excellence Programme (Project No. 213503, Nuclear and AcceleratorBased Physics Research at JYFL). The authors thank the IAEA for supporting and encouraging the work in this field.

At the Low-Energy Branch (LEB) of the Super-FRS at FAIR, projectile and fission fragments will be produced at relativistic energies, separated in-flight, energy-bunched, slowed down and thermalized in a cryogenic stopping cell (CSC) filled with ultra-pure He gas. The fragments are extracted from the stopping cell using a combination of DC and RF electric fields and gas flow. A prototype CSC for the LEB has been developed and successfully commissioned at the FRS Ion Catcher at GSI. Ionization of He buffer gas atoms during the stopping of energetic ions creates a region of high space charge in the stopping cell. The space charge decreases the extraction efficiency of stopping cells since the high amount of charge distorts the applied DC electric drag fields. Thus the understanding of space charge effects is of great importance to make full use of the high yields at future RIB facilities such as the Super-FRS at FAIR. For this purpose a detailed study of space charge effects in the CSC was performed using experiments and simulations. The dependence of the extraction efficiency, the extraction time and the temporal ion extraction profile on the intensity of the impinging beam and the electric field strength was studied for two different U-238 projectile fragments produced at 1000 MeV/u and separated with the FRS. Good agreement between experiments and simulations was found. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

At the IGISOL-4 facility, neutron-rich, medium mass nuclei have usually been produced via charged particle-induced fission of natural uranium and thorium. Neutron-induced fission is expected to have a higher production cross section of the most neutron-rich species. Development of a neutron source along with a new ion guide continues to be one of the major goals since the commissioning of IGISOL-4. Neutron intensities at di↵erent angles from a beryllium neutron source have been measured in an on-line experiment with a 30 MeV proton beam. Recently, the new ion guide coupled to the neutron source has been tested as well. Details of the neutron source and ion guide design together with preliminary results from the first neutron-induced fission experiment at IGISOL-4 are presented in this report. peerReviewed

The IGISOL-4 facility in the JYFL Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyvaskyla (JYFL-ACCLAB) produces low-energy radioactive ion beams, primarily for nuclear spectroscopy, utilizing an ion guide-based, ISOL-type mass separator. Recently, new ion manipulation techniques have been introduced at the IGISOL-4 including the application of the PI-ICR (Phase-Imaging Ion Cyclotron Resonance) technique at the JYFLTRAP Penning trap, as well as commissioning of a Multi-Reflection Time-Of-Flight (MR-TOF) separator/spectrometer. The successful operation of the MR-TOF also required significant improvement of the Radio-Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) cooler and buncher device beam pulse time structure. In addition, laser ionization techniques have been developed for particular cases, for example, a hot cavity laser ion source for silver production. A new stable isotope ion source and a beam line has been introduced for tuning and calibration purposes. In addition to the installations at the IGISOL-4 facility, the extension of the vacuum-mode recoil separator MARA (Mass Analysing Recoil Apparatus), MARA-LEB (MARA Low Energy Branch) has been under development. MARA-LEB will utilize the gas-cell technique and laser ionization to convert MeV-scale radioactive beams to low-energy ones.

9 pags., 3 figs. -- Open Access funded by Creative Commons Atribution Licence 4.0, Three observables of interest for present and future reactors depend on the β decay properties of the fission products: antineutrinos from reactors, the reactor decay heat and delayed neutron emission. In these proceedings, we present new results from summation calculations of the first two quantities quoted above, performed with evolved independent yields coupled with fission product decay data, from various nuclear data bases or models. New TAGS results from the latest experiment of the TAGS collaboration at the JYFL facility of Jyväskylä will be displayed as well as their impact on the antineutrino spectra and the decay heat associated to fission pulses of the main actinides.

Background: $\beta$-delayed multiple neutron emission has been observed for some nuclei with A$\leq$100, with $^{100}$Rb being the heaviest $\beta$2n emitter measured to date. So far, only 25 P$_{2n}$ values have been determined for the $\sim$300 nuclei that may decay in this way. Accordingly, it is of interest to measure P$_{2n}$ values for the other possible multiple neutron emitters throughout the chart of the nuclides. It is of particular interest to make such measurement for nuclei with A$>$100 to test the predictions of theoretical models and simulation tools for the decays of heavy nuclei in the region of very neutron-rich nuclei. In addition, the decay properties of these nuclei are fundamental for the understanding of astrophysical nucleosynthesis processes such as the $r$-process, and safety inputs for nuclear reactors. Purpose: To determine for the first time the two neutron branching ratio, P$_{2n}$ value, for $^{136}$Sb through a direct neutron measurement, and to provide precise P$_{1n}$ values for $^{136}$Sb and $^{136}$Te. Method: Pure beams were provided by the JYFLTRAP at the IGISOL facility of the University of Jyv\"askyl\"a, Finland. The purified ions were implanted into a moving tape at the end of the beam line. The detection setup consisted of a plastic scintillator placed right behind the implantation point, and the BELEN detector, based on neutron counters embedded in a polyethylene matrix. The analysis was based on the study of the $\beta$- and neutron- growth-and-decay curves and the $\beta$-one-neutron and $\beta$-two-neutron time correlations. Results: The P$_{2n}$ value of $^{136}$Sb was found to be 0.31(5)\% and the measured P$_{1n}$ values for $^{136}$Sb and $^{136}$Te were found to be 31.9(15)\% and 1.47(6)\%, respectively. The measured P$_{2n}$ value is a factor 20 smaller than predicted by the FRDM+QRPA model used for $r$-process calculations.

11 pags., 16 figs., 3 tabs., DTAS is a segmented total absorption γ-ray spectrometer developed for the DESPEC experiment at FAIR. It is composed of up to eighteen NaI(Tl) crystals. In this work we study the performance of this detector with laboratory sources and also under real experimental conditions. We present a procedure to reconstruct offline the sum of the energy deposited in all the crystals of the spectrometer, which is complicated by the effect of NaI(Tl) light-yield non-proportionality. The use of a system to correct for time variations of the gain in individual detector modules, based on a light pulse generator, is demonstrated. We describe also an event-based method to evaluate the summing-pileup electronic distortion in segmented spectrometers. All of this allows a careful characterization of the detector with Monte Carlo simulations that is needed to calculate the response function for the analysis of total absorption γ-ray spectroscopy data. Special attention was paid to the interaction of neutrons with the spectrometer, since they are a source of contamination in studies of β-delayed neutron emitting nuclei., This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad under grants FPA2011-24553, AIC-A-2011-0696, FPA2014-52823-C2-1-P and the program Severo Ochoa (SEV-2014-0398), by the European Commission under the FP7/EURATOM contract 605203, and by the Spanish Ministerio de Educacion Cultura y Deporte under the FPU12/01527 grant. The work was also supported by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) grant 14 ST/P005314/1. E. Ganioglu was supported by the Istanbul University Scientic Research Project Unit under FYO-2017-24144 project.

The rare-earth peak in the $r$-process abundance pattern depends sensitively on both the astrophysical conditions and subtle changes in nuclear structure in the region. This work takes an important step elucidating the nuclear structure and reducing the uncertainties in $r$-process calculations via precise atomic mass measurements at the JYFLTRAP double Penning trap. $^{158}$Nd, $^{160}$Pm, $^{162}$Sm, and $^{164-166}$Gd have been measured for the first time and the precisions for $^{156}$Nd, $^{158}$Pm, $^{162,163}$Eu, $^{163}$Gd, and $^{164}$Tb have been improved considerably. Nuclear structure has been probed via two-neutron separation energies $S_{2n}$ and neutron pairing energy metrics $D_n$. The data do not support the existence of a subshell closure at $N=100$. Neutron pairing has been found to be weaker than predicted by theoretical mass models. The impact on the calculated $r$-process abundances has been studied. Substantial changes resulting in a smoother abundance distribution and a better agreement with the solar $r$-process abundances are observed., 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters

The MARA Low-Energy Branch is under development at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyvaskylä. The facility will be employed for laser ionisation and spectroscopy studies and for mass measurements of nuclei close to the proton drip line. This article presents an updated status of the ongoing development of the different parts of this facility, including the buffer gas cell, the ion transport system, the laser system and the detector stations. peerReviewed

The first systematic measurement of neutron-induced fission yields has been performed at the upgraded IGISOL-4 facility at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. The fission products from high-energy neutron-induced fission of nat U were stopped in a gas cell filled with helium buffer gas, and were online separated with a dipole magnet. The isobars, with masses in the range A = 128-133 , were transported to a tape-implantation station and identified using γ -spectroscopy. We report here the relative cumulative isotopic yields of tin (Z = 50) and the relative independent isotopic yields of antimony (Z = 51). Isomeric yield ratios were also obtained for five nuclides. The yields of tin show a staggered behaviour around A = 131 , not observed in the ENDF/B-VII.1 evaluation. The yields of antimony also contradict the trend from the evaluation, but are in agreement with a calculation performed using the GEF model that shows the yield increasing with mass in the range A = 128-133. peerReviewed

We report the first experimental determination of independent isomeric yield ratios using direct ion counting with a Penning trap, which offered such a high resolution in mass that isomeric states could be separated. The measurements were performed at the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line (IGISOL) facility at the University of Jyvaskyla. The isomer production ratios of Ge-81, Y-96,Y-97 Sn-128(,1)30, and Sb-129 in the 25-MeV proton-induced fission of U-na(t) and Th-232 were studied. Three isomeric pairs (Ge-81, Y-96, and Sb-129) were measured for the first time for the U-na(t)(p, f) reaction, while all the reported yield ratios for the Th-232(p, f) reaction were determined for the first time. The comparison of the experimentally determined isomeric yield ratios with data available in the literature shows a reasonable agreement, except for the case of Sn-130 for unspecified reasons. The obtained results were also compared with the GEF model, where good agreement can be noticed in most cases for both reactions. Serious discrepancies can only be observed for the cases of Y-96(,)97 for both reactions. Moreover, based on the isomeric yield ratios, the root-mean-square angular momenta (J(r)(ms)) of the fission fragments after scission were estimated using the TALYS code. The experimentally determined isomeric yield ratios, and consequently the deduced J(rms), for Sn-130 are significantly lower compared to Sn-128 for both fissioning systems. This can be attributed to the more spherical shape of the fragments that contribute to the formation of Sn-130, due to their proximity to the N = 82 shell closure. The values of J(rms) for Sb-129 are higher than Sn-128 for both reactions, despite the same neutron number of both nuclides (N = 78), indicating the odd-Z effect where fission fragments with odd-Z number tend to bear larger angular momentum than even-Z fragments. The isomer production ratio for the isotopes of Sn is more enhanced in the U-na(t)(p, f) reaction than in Th-232(p, f). The opposite is observed for Y-96 and Y-97. These discrepancies might be associated to different scission shapes of the fragments for the two fission reactions, indicating the impact that the different fission modes can have on the isomeric yield ratios.

The Ga 71 ( ν e , e − ) Ge 71 reaction Q value has been measured with the JYFLTRAP mass spectrometer at the IGISOL facility of the University of Jyvaskyla to Q = 232.443(93) keV. This value agrees with previous measurements, though it features a much higher accuracy. The Q value is being discussed in the context of the solar neutrino capture rate in Ga 71 .

A compact electrostatic trap has been designed and installed as part of the recent upgrades to the IGISOL IV facility. The ConeTrap provides an in vacuo optical pumping site for low energy (800 eV) ionic ensembles available for interaction periods of 10-100 ms. At present, 6.7(3) % of injected mass A=98 ions can be trapped, stored for 5 ms, extracted and transported to a laser-ion interaction region. This fraction represents those ions for which no perturbation to total energy or energy spread is observed. Proposed enhancements to the trap are designed to improve the trapping efficiency by up to a factor of 5. Differential pumping and reduction in background pressure below the present 10−6 mbar will extend storage times beyond 100 ms. peerReviewed

The beta decay of Tc-100 has been studied by using the total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy technique at the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line facility in Jyvaskyla. In this work the new Decay Total Absorption gamma-ray Spectrometer in coincidence with a cylindrical plastic beta detector has been employed. The beta intensity to the ground state obtained from the analysis is in good agreement with previous high-resolution measurements. However, differences in the feeding to the first-excited state as well as weak feeding to a new level at high excitation energy have been deduced from this experiment. Theoretical calculations performed in the quasiparticle random-phase approximation framework are also reported. Comparison of these calculations with our measurement serves as a benchmark for calculations of the double beta decay of Mo-100.

V. Guadilla et al. -- 5 pags., 8 figs., tab., In this work we report on the Monte Carlo study performed to understand and reproduce experimental measurements of a new plastic β-detector with cylindrical geometry. Since energy deposition simulations differ from the experimental measurements for such a geometry, we show how the simulation of production and transport of optical photons does allow one to obtain the shapes of the experimental spectra. Moreover, taking into account the computational effort associated with this kind of simulation, we develop a method to convert the simulations of energy deposited into light collected, depending only on the interaction point in the detector. This method represents a useful solution when extensive simulations have to be done, as in the case of the calculation of the response function of the spectrometer in a total absorption γ-ray spectroscopy analysis., This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under grants FPA2011-24553, AIC-A-2011-0696, FPA2014-52823-C2-1-P and the program Severo Ochoa (SEV-2014-0398), by the European Commission under the FP7/EURATOM contract 605203, and by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación under the FPU12/01527 grant.

Half-lives and branching ratios for the two mirror $ \beta$ decays of$^{23}$Mg and$^{27}$Si have been measured at the University of Jyvaskyla with the IGISOL facility. The results obtained, $ T_{1/2}=11.303(3)$ s and $ T_{1/2}= 4.112(2)$ s for the half-lives of$^{23}$Mg and$^{27}$Si , respectively, are 7 and 8 times more precise than the averages of previous measurements. The values obtained for the super-allowed branching ratios of$^{23}$Mg and$^{27}$Si are $ B.R.=92.18(8)\%$ and $ B.R.=99.74(2)\%$ , respectively. The result for$^{23}$Mg is three times more precise than the average of the previous measurements, while for$^{27}$Si the precision has not been improved, the average of the previous measurements being already very precise. Isospin-symmetry-breaking corrections have been calculated for the two nuclei to determine the corrected $ {F}t$ value.

International audience; Total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy is used to measure accurately the intensity of γ emission from neutron-unbound states populated in the β-decay of delayed-neutron emitters. From the comparison of this intensity with the intensity of neutron emission a constraint on the (n, γ) cross section for highly unstable neutron-rich nuclei can be deduced. A surprisingly large γ branching was observed for a number of isotopes which might indicate the need to increase by a large factor the Hauser-Feshbach (n, γ) cross-section estimates that impact on r process abundance calculations.

Excited levels of $^{88}\mathrm{Br}$ populated in the $\ensuremath{\beta}$ decay of $^{88}\mathrm{Se}$ have been studied by means of $\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremath{\gamma}$ and $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\gamma}$ spectroscopy methods. Neutron-rich parent $^{88}\mathrm{Se}$ nuclei were produced with proton-induced fission of $^{238}\mathrm{U}$ using the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line (IGISOL) method and separated from contaminants using a dipole magnet and the coupled JYFLTRAP Penning trap at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyv\"askyl\"a. The level scheme of $^{88}\mathrm{Br}$ has been constructed and $logft$ values of levels were determined. The ground-state spin of $^{88}\mathrm{Br}$ is now firmly determined to be ${1}^{\ensuremath{-}}$. Low-energy levels in $^{88}\mathrm{Br}$ were interpreted as members of the $\ensuremath{\pi}{p}_{3/2}{(\ensuremath{\nu}{d}_{5/2})}^{3}, \ensuremath{\pi}{p}_{3/2}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{(\ensuremath{\nu}{d}_{5/2})}^{3}, \ensuremath{\pi}{f}_{5/2}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{(\ensuremath{\nu}{d}_{5/2})}^{3}$, and $\ensuremath{\pi}{g}_{9/2}\ensuremath{\nu}{g}_{7/2}$ multiplets. The shell-model calculations performed in this work reproduce well the experimental results.

Precise measurements of superallowed ${0}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{0}^{+}$ $\ensuremath{\beta}$ decay presently provide the most precise value for the weak mixing amplitude ${V}_{u\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}d}$. As the largest element of the CKM matrix, ${V}_{u\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}d}$ is a critical piece of the Standard Model of the electroweak interaction. The new, precise Penning-trap mass measurement of the decay energy for the superallowed transition in ${}^{42}$Sc opens the door for a much more precise $f\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t$ value determination if its half-life can be measured more precisely as well.

J. L. Taín et al. -- 6 pags., 7 figs., 1 tab. -- Open Access funded by Creative Commons Atribution Licence 4.0, Total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy is used to measure accurately the intensity of ¿ emission from neutron-unbound states populated in the ß-decay of delayed-neutron emitters. From the comparison of this intensity with the intensity of neutron emission one can deduce information on the (n,¿) cross section for unstable neutron-rich nuclei of interest in r process abundance calculations. A surprisingly large ¿ branching was observed for a number of isotopes. The results are compared with Hauser-Feshbach calculations and discussed., This work was supported by Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under grants FPA2008-06419, FPA2010- 17142, FPA2011-24553, FPA2014-52823-C2-1-P, CPAN CSD- 2007-00042 (Ingenio2010) and the program Severo Ochoa (SEV-2014-0398). WG would like to thank the University of Valencia for support. This work was supported by the Academy of Finland under the Finnish Centre of Excellence Programme 2012-2017 (Project No. 21350). Work supported by EPSRC(UK) and STFC(UK) and the UK National Measurement Office. Work supported by the European Commission under the FP7/EURATOM contract 605203. FGK acknowledges support from the U.S. Department of Energy, under contract number DEAC02- 06CH11357.

Preliminary results from beta decay studies of nuclei that are important for reactor applications are presented. The beta decays have been studied using the total absorption technique (TAS) and the pure beams provided by the JYFLTRAP system at the IGISOL facility of the University of Jyväskylä. peerReviewed

Long-lived isotopes of plutonium were studied using two complementary techniques, high-resolution resonance ionisation spectroscopy (HR-RIS) and collinear laser spectroscopy (CLS). Isotope shifts have been measured on the $5f^67s^2\ ^7F_0 \rightarrow 5f^56d^27s\ (J=1)$ and $5f^67s^2\ ^7F_1 \rightarrow 5f^67s7p\ (J=2)$ atomic transitions using the HR-RIS method and the hyperfine factors have been extracted for the odd mass nuclei $^{239,241}$Pu. Collinear laser spectroscopy was performed on the $5f^67s\ ^8F_{1/2} \rightarrow J=1/2\; (27523.61\text{cm}^{-1})$ ionic transition with the hyperfine $A$ factors measured for $^{239}$Pu. Changes in mean-squared charge radii have been extracted and show a good agreement with previous non-optical methods, with an uncertainty improvement by approximately one order of magnitude. Plutonium represents the heaviest element studied to date using collinear laser spectroscopy., accepted by Phys. Rev. A (2017-03-02)