Changes in nuclear structure along the Mn isotopic chain studied via charge radii

The hyperfine spectra of Mn-51,Mn-53-64 were measured in two experimental runs using collinear laser spectroscopy at ISOLDE, CERN. Laser spectroscopy was performed on the atomic 3d(5) 4s(2) S-6(5/2)-> 3d(5) 4s4p P-6(3/2) and ionic 3d(5) 4s S-5(2)-> 3d(5) 4p P-5(3) transitions, yielding two sets of isotope shifts. The mass and field shift factors for both transitions have been calculated in the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock framework and were combined with a King plot analysis in order to obtain a consistent set of mean-square charge radii which, together with earlier work on neutron-deficient Mn, allow the study of nuclear structure changes from N = 25 across N = 28 up to N = 39. A clear development of deformation is observed towards N = 40, confirming the conclusions of the nuclear moments studies. From a Monte Carlo shell-model study of the shape in the Mn isotopic chain, it is suggested that the observed development of deformation is not only due to an increase in static prolate deformation but also due to shape fluctuations and triaxiality. The changes in mean-square charge radii are well reproduced using the Duflo-Zuker formula except in the case of large deformation.Peer reviewe

Changes in nuclear structure along the Mn isotopic chain studied via charge radii.

The hyperfine spectra of Mn-51,Mn-53-64 were measured in two experimental runs using collinear laser spectroscopy at ISOLDE, CERN. Laser spectroscopy was performed on the atomic 3d(5) 4s(2) S-6(5/2) -> 3d(5) 4s4p P-6(3/2) and ionic 3d(5) 4s S-5(2) -> 3d(5) 4p P-5(3) transitions, yielding two sets of isotope shifts. The mass and field shift factors for both transitions have been calculated in the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock framework and were combined with a King plot analysis in order to obtain a consistent set of mean-square charge radii which, together with earlier work on neutron-deficient Mn, allow the study of nuclear structure changes from N = 25 across N = 28 up to N = 39. A clear development of deformation is observed towards N = 40, confirming the conclusions of the nuclear moments studies. From a Monte Carlo shell-model study of the shape in the Mn isotopic chain, it is suggested that the observed development of deformation is not only due to an increase in static prolate deformation but also due to shape fluctuations and triaxiality. The changes in mean-square charge radii are well reproduced using the Duflo-Zuker formula except in the case of large deformation

Probing Sizes and Shapes of Nobelium Isotopes by Laser Spectroscopy

Until recently, ground-state nuclear moments of the heaviest nuclei could only be inferred from nuclear spectroscopy, where model assumptions are required. Laser spectroscopy in combination with modern atomic structure calculations is now able to probe these moments directly, in a comprehensive and nuclear-model-independent way. Here we report on unique access to the differential mean-square charge radii of 252, 253, 254No, and therefore to changes in nuclear size and shape. State-of-the-art nuclear density functional calculations describe well the changes in nuclear charge radii in the region of the heavy actinides, indicating an appreciable central depression in the deformed proton density distribution in 252, 254No isotopes. Finally, the hyperfine splitting of 253No was evaluated, enabling a complementary measure of its (quadrupole) deformation, as well as an insight into the neutron single-particle wave function via the nuclear spin and magnetic moment

From Ultraslow to Extremely Fast Dynamics in Sodium Nitrate: an 17O NMR Study

AbstractIncreasing dynamics in solids featuring nuclei subjected to second-order quadrupolar interactions lead to central-transition spectra that undergo two consecutive line-shaped transitions. Conventional motional narrowing occurs when the molecular exchange rate is on the order of the strength of the dominant interaction. In a second step, the resulting intermediately narrowed spectra change further when the motion becomes faster than the Larmor precession rate, leading to terminally narrowed spectra that can display a residual quadrupolar shift. We derive analytic expressions for this shift and analyze the quadrupolar central-transition spectra in terms of CN symmetrical cone models. Increasing the number of sites to N ≥ 3, the terminally narrowed spectra remain unaltered, while the intermediately narrowed spectra remain unaltered only for N ≥ 5. This finding relates to the different (cubic vs. icosahedral) symmetries that are required to average out the spatial second- and fourth-rank terms in the second-order quadrupolar interaction. Following recent work (Hung et al., Solid State Nucl Magn Reson 84:14–19, 2017), 17O NMR is applied to examine the three-site rotation of the nitrate group in NaNO3. Line shapes are measured and analyzed, and in addition to prior work, satellite-transition and stimulated-echo experiments are carried out. The final-state amplitudes extracted from the latter are reproduced using model calculations. It is shown how two-dimensional exchange spectra relating to N-site cone motions can be decomposed in terms of effective two-site-jump spectra. This latter approach is successfully tested for NaNO3.</jats:p

Two-site jumps in dimethyl sulfone studied by one- and two-dimensional 17O NMR spectroscopy

Polycrystalline dimethyl sulfone is studied using central-transition oxygen-17 exchange NMR. The quadrupolar and chemical shift tensors are determined by combining quantum chemical calculations with line shape analyses of rigid-lattice spectra measured for stationary and rotating samples at several external magnetic fields. Quantum chemical computations predict that the largest principal axes of the chemical shift anisotropy and electrical field gradient tensors enclose an angle of about 73°. This prediction is successfully tested by comparison with absorption spectra recorded at three different external magnetic fields. The experimental one-dimensional motionally narrowed spectra and the two-dimensional exchange spectrum are compatible with model calculations involving jumps of the molecules about their two-fold symmetry axis. This motion is additionally investigated by means of two-time stimulated-echo spectroscopy which allows for a determination of motional correlation functions over a wider temperature range than previously reported using carbon and deuteron NMR. On the basis of suitable second-order quadrupolar frequency distributions, sin-sin stimulated-echo amplitudes are calculated for a two-site model in the limit of vanishing evolution time and compared with experimental findings. The present study thus establishes oxygen-17 NMR as a powerful method that will be particularly useful for the study of solids and liquids devoid of nuclei governed by first-order anisotropies