Accurate mass measurements of 26^{26}Ne, 26−30^{26-30}Na, 29−33^{29-33}Mg performed with the {\sc Mistral} spectrometer

The minuteness of the nuclear binding energy requires that mass measurements be highly precise and accurate. Here we report on new measurements $^{29-33}$Mg and $^{26}$Na performed with the {\sc Mistral} mass spectrometer at {\sc Cern}'s {\sc Isolde} facility. Since mass measurements are prone to systematic errors, considerable effort has been devoted to their evaluation and elimination in order to achieve accuracy and not only precision. We have therefore conducted a campaign of measurements for calibration and error evaluation. As a result, we now have a satisfactory description of the {\sc Mistral} calibration laws and error budget. We have applied our new understanding to previous measurements of $^{26}$Ne, $^{26-30}$Na and $^{29,32}$Mg for which re-evaluated values are reported.Comment: submitted to Nuclear Physics

The y activity from 11Li beta decay

The energies and absolute intensities of the γ-rays from the β-decay of 11Li are measured. There is no sizable β branch to the 11Be ground state. Only (5.2 ± 1.4) % of the β-decay strength does not lead to β-delayed particle emission. New β-delayed neutron branches to excited states of 10Be are observed and the total delayed neutron emission probability is deduced

Precision mass measurements of very short-lived, neutron-rich Na isotopes using a radiofrequency spectrometer

Mass measurements of high precision have been performed on sodium isotopes out to $^{30}$Na using a new technique of radiofrequency excitation of ion trajectories in a homogeneous magnetic field. This method, especially suited to very short-lived nuclides, has allowed us to significantly reduce the uncertainty in mass of the most exotic Na isotopes: a relative error of 5x10$^{-7}$ was achieved for $^{28}$Na having a half-life of only 30.5 ms and 9x10$^{-7}$ for the weakly produced $^{30}$Na. Verifying and minimizing binding energy uncertainties in this region of the nuclear chart is important for clarification of a long standing problem concerning the strength of the $N$=20 magic shell closure. These results are the fruit of the commissioning of the new experimental program Mistral

Ground state hyperfine structures of 43K and 44K measured by atomic beam magnetic resonance coupled with laser optical pumping

The ground state hyperfine structures of 43 K and 44K have been measured by an atomic beam magnetic resonance method in which the atoms are spin-polarized by laser optical pumping. The spectroscopic results are : Δv43( 2S1/2) = 192.648 4 (30) MHz and Δν44( 2S1/2) = - 946.718 (3) MHz. The sensitivity of our method is compared to the one achieved in classical ABMR apparatus

Angular dependence of the bulk nucleation field Hc2 of aligned MgB2 crystallites

Studies on the new MgB2 superconductor, with a critical temperature Tc ~ 39 K, have evidenced its potential for applications although intense magnetic relaxation effects limit the critical current density, Jc, at high magnetic fields. This means that effective pinning centers must be added into the material microstructure, in order to halt dissipative flux movements. Concerning the basic microscopic mechanism to explain the superconductivity in MgB2, several experimental and theoretical works have pointed to the relevance of a phonon-mediated interaction, in the framework of the BCS theory. Questions have been raised about the relevant phonon modes, and the gap and Fermi surface anisotropies, in an effort to interpret spectroscopic and thermal data that give values between 2.4 and 4.5 for the gap energy ratio. Preliminary results on the anisotropy of Hc2 have shown a ratio, between the in-plane and perpendicular directions, around 1.7 for aligned MgB2 crystallites and 1.8 for epitaxial thin films. Here we show a study on the angular dependence of Hc2 pointing to a Fermi velocity anisotropy around 2.5. This anisotropy certainly implies the use of texturization techniques to optimize Jc in MgB2 wires and other polycrystalline components.Comment: 10 pages + 4 Figs.; Revised version accepted in Phys. Rev.

High-accuracy mass determination of neutron-rich rubidium and strontiumiIsotopes

The penning-trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP, installed at the on-line isotope separator ISOLDE at CERN, has been used to measure atomic masses of $^{88,89,90m,91,92,93,94}$Rb and $^{91- 95}$Sr. Using a resolving power of R $\!\scriptstyle\approx$1 million a mass accuracy of typically 10 keV was achieved for all nuclides. Discrepancies with older data are analyzed and discussed, leading to corrections to those data. Together with the present ISOLTRAP data these corrected data have been used in the general mass adjustment