Hyperfine-induced effects on the linear polarization of the Kα1\alpha_1 emission from helium-like ions

The linear polarization of the characteristic photon emission from few-electron ions is studied for its sensitivity with regard to the nuclear spin and magnetic moment of the ions. Special attention is paid, in particular, to the K$\alpha_1$ (1s 2p_{3/2} ^{1,3}P_{1,2} \to 1s^2 ^1S_0) decay of selected helium-like ions following the radiative electron capture into initially hydrogen-like species. Based on the density matrix theory, a unified description is developed that includes both, the many-electron and hyperfine interactions as well as the multipole-mixing effects arising from the expansion of the radiation field. It is shown that the polarization of the K$\alpha_1$ line can be significantly affected by the mutipole mixing between the leading $M2$ and hyperfine-induced $E1$ components of 1s2p ^3P_2, F_i \to 1s^2 ^1S_0, F_f transitions. This $E1$-$M2$ mixing strongly depends on the nuclear properties of the considered isotopes and can be addressed experimentally at existing heavy-ion storage rings

FAIR - from a few-body perspective

In the next years the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research FAIR will be constructed at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany. This new accelerator complex will allow for unprecedented and pathbreaking research in hadronic, nuclear, and atomic physics as well as in applied sciences. This manuscript will discuss some of these research opportunities, with a focus on few-body physics

SPARC Collaboration: New Strategy for Storage Ring Physics at FAIR

SPARC collaboration at FAIR pursues the worldwide unique research program by utilizing storage ring and trapping facilities for highly-charged heavy ions. The main focus is laid on the exploration of the physics at strong, ultra-short electromagnetic fields including the fundamental interactions between electrons and heavy nuclei as well as on the experiments at the border between nuclear and atomic physics. Very recently SPARC worked out a realization scheme for experiments with highly-charged heavy-ions at relativistic energies in the High-Energy Storage Ring HESR and at very low-energies at the CRYRING coupled to the present ESR. Both facilities provide unprecedented physics opportunities already at the very early stage of FAIR operation. The installation of CRYRING, dedicated Low-energy Storage Ring (LSR) for FLAIR, may even enable a much earlier realisation of the physics program of FLAIR with slow anti-protons.Comment: IX International Workshop on "APPLICATION OF LASERS AND STORAGE DEVICES IN ATOMIC NUCLEI RESEARCH", Recent Achievements and Future Prospects, May 13 - 16, 2013, Pozna\'n, Polan

Test of Time Dilation Using Stored Li+ Ions as Clocks at Relativistic Speed

We present the concluding result from an Ives-Stilwell-type time dilation experiment using 7Li+ ions confined at a velocity of beta = v/c = 0.338 in the storage ring ESR at Darmstadt. A Lambda-type three-level system within the hyperfine structure of the 7Li+ triplet S1-P2 line is driven by two laser beams aligned parallel and antiparallel relative to the ion beam. The lasers' Doppler shifted frequencies required for resonance are measured with an accuracy of < 4 ppb using optical-optical double resonance spectroscopy. This allows us to verify the Special Relativity relation between the time dilation factor gamma and the velocity beta to within 2.3 ppb at this velocity. The result, which is singled out by a high boost velocity beta, is also interpreted within Lorentz Invariance violating test theories

Nuclear excitation by electron capture followed by fast x-ray emission

The resonance strength of the two-step process of nuclear excitation by electron capture followed by $\gamma$ decay of the nucleus can be significantly increased in highly charged ions if the resonant capture proceeds via an excited electronic state with subsequent fast x-ray emission. For fully ionized $^{238}_{92}\mathrm{U}$ and $^{232}_{90}\mathrm{Th}$, the {x-ray} decay stabilizes the system against internal conversion of the captured electron, with an increase of both nuclear lifetimes and resonance strengths of up to two orders of magnitude compared with the case when occupied atomic orbitals prevent the x-ray de-excitation. Applications of this effect to the measurement of the not yet experimentally observed nuclear excitation by electron capture and to dense astrophysical plasmas are discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, 2 table

A Squid-Based Beam Current Monitor For FAIR

A Cryogenic Current Comparator (CCC) wasdeveloped for the upcoming FAIR-Project, providing anon-destructive online monitoring of the beam current inthe nA-range. The CCC was optimized for a lowestpossible noise-limited current resolution together with ahigh system bandwidth. Therefore, the low temperatureproperties of ferromagnetic core materials used in thepick-up coil were investigated and differentSuperconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID)-systems were tested.In this contribution we present results of the completedCryogenic Current Comparator for FAIR working in alaboratory environment, regarding the improvements inresolution and bandwidth due to the use of suitableferromagnetic core materials and optimized SQUIDsystemcomponents

Observation of the hyperfine transition in lithium-like Bismuth 209Bi80+^{209}\text{Bi}^{80+}: Towards a test of QED in strong magnetic fields

We performed a laser spectroscopic determination of the $2s$ hyperfine splitting (HFS) of Li-like $^{209}\text{Bi}^{80+}$ and repeated the measurement of the $1s$ HFS of H-like $^{209}\text{Bi}^{82+}$. Both ion species were subsequently stored in the Experimental Storage Ring at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum f\"ur Schwerionenforschung Darmstadt and cooled with an electron cooler at a velocity of $\approx 0.71\,c$. Pulsed laser excitation of the $M1$ hyperfine-transition was performed in anticollinear and collinear geometry for $\text{Bi}^{82+}$ and $\text{Bi}^{80+}$, respectively, and observed by fluorescence detection. We obtain $\Delta E^{(1s)}= 5086.3(11)\,\textrm{meV}$ for $\text{Bi}^{82+}$, different from the literature value, and $\Delta E^{(2s)}= 797.50(18)\,\textrm{meV}$ for $\text{Bi}^{80+}$. These values provide experimental evidence that a specific difference between the two splitting energies can be used to test QED calculations in the strongest static magnetic fields available in the laboratory independent of nuclear structure effects. The experimental result is in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction and confirms the sum of the Dirac term and the relativistic interelectronic-interaction correction at a level of 0.5% confirming the importance of accounting for the Breit interaction.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

XUV Fluorescence Detection of Laser-Cooled Stored Relativistic Ions

An improved moveable in vacuo XUV fluorescence detection system was employed for the laser cooling of bunched relativistic ( β = 0.47) carbon ions at the Experimental Storage Ring (ESR) of GSI Helmholtzzentrum Darmstadt, Germany. Strongly Doppler boosted XUV fluorescence (∼90 nm) was emitted from the ions in a forward light cone after laser excitation of the 2s–2p transition (∼155 nm) by a new tunable pulsed UV laser system (257 nm). It was shown that the detected fluorescence strongly depends on the position of the detector around the bunched ion beam and on the delay (∼ns) between the ion bunches and the laser pulses. In addition, the fluorescence information could be directly combined with the revolution frequencies of the ions (and their longitudinal momentum spread), which were recorded using the Schottky resonator at the ESR. These fluorescence detection features are required for future laser cooling experiments at highly relativistic energies (up to γ ∼ 13) and high intensities (up to 10 11 particles) of ion beams in the new heavy ion synchrotron SIS100 at FAIR

Ultrahigh compression of water using intense heavy ion beams: laboratory planetary physics

Intense heavy ion beams offer a unique tool for generating samples of high energy density matter with extreme conditions of density and pressure that are believed to exist in the interiors of giant planets. An international accelerator facility named FAIR (Facility for Antiprotons and Ion Research) is being constructed at Darmstadt, which will be completed around the year 2015. It is expected that this accelerator facility will deliver a bunched uranium beam with an intensity of 5x10(11) ions per spill with a bunch length of 50-100 ns. An experiment named LAPLAS (Laboratory Planetary Sciences) has been proposed to achieve a low-entropy compression of a sample material like hydrogen or water (which are believed to be abundant in giant planets) that is imploded in a multi-layered target by the ion beam. Detailed numerical simulations have shown that using parameters of the heavy ion beam that will be available at FAIR, one can generate physical conditions that have been predicted to exist in the interior of giant planets. In the present paper, we report simulations of compression of water that show that one can generate a plasma phase as well as a superionic phase of water in the LAPLAS experiments