HGS-HIRe Excellence Award 2010 for Renate Märtin
Renate Märtin received the HGS-HIRe Excellence Award 2010 at the Graduate Days 2010.
Laser Spectroscopy on 12Be at ISOLDE/CERN
In the beam time lasting from October 12th to October 18th, the isotope shift of the beryllium isotopes were measured in collinear and anti-collinear geometry at the ISOLDE facility at CERN. Besides the previously (see Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 062503 (2009)) studied isotopes, the short-lived isotope 12Be (t1/2=24 ms) has been investigated for the first time by collinear laser spectroscopy. At yields of typically up to 10000 ions per proton pulse, we successfully managed to observe the D1 as well as the D2 line of the 2s-2p transition at a wavelength of about 313 nm. Data analysis in order to extract the charge radius of 12Be is ongoing.
A test of time dilation with fast 7Li+ ions at GSI
From September 27th until October 7th an experiment for testing time dilation of the Special Theory of Relativity has been performed at the experimental storage ring at the GSI Helmholtz center for heavy ion research with 7Li+ ions at a velocity of 33,8 % of the speed of light. Compared to earlier measurements at GSI the signal to noise ratio has been considerably improved and many systematic influences have been studied using the so called Lambda-spectroscopy. An example of a recorded signal can be seen in the picture. Furthermore saturation spectroscopy was realized for the first time with 7Li+ ions at these velocities. This method has the potential to improve the accuracy of the experiment, and to become therefore even more sensitive to hypothetical deviations from Special Relativity.
HITRAP commissioning experiment
HITRAP, a facility to decelerate and cool heavy, highly-charged ions, has successfully finished the recent commissioning experiments. Two major steps have been achieved and put HITRAP well on track for final deceleration and cooling of particles from 4 MeV/u down to a few meV. For the first time a beam coasting at 4MeV/u in the ESR has been bunched into a short bunch of less than 1 micro second length before ejection to the linear decelerator part of HITRAP. This bunch can later be dynamically captured in the cooler Penning trap of HITRAP. In a second step, the optimal working point of the first of two decelerator structures, an interdigital H-type structure, has been found. Between 30 and 40% of the particles arriving with 4 MeV/u have been decelerated to 0.5 MeV/u. This is remarkable compared to the maximally expected efficiency that was calculated to be close to 60%. In the above figure the recorded energy spectrum with relative abundances for the different energy regions is displayed. The beam has been separated in a magnetic dipole and detected on a micro-channel plate and phosphor screen combination, the raw image being the background intensity plot. The spatial position is representative for the energy of the detected particles.
Frank Herfurth for the HITRAP team.
Featured article in Journal of Physics G about beryllium isotope shift measurements
New results from beryllium isotope shift measurements are published as a featured article in Journal of Physics G. The results confirm the previous measurements for the charge radii of the isotopes of Be-7,9,10 and the one-neutron halo nucleus Be-11. Excellent agreement is reported with Fermionic Molecular Dynamics calculations performed also at GSI in the theory group by Thomas Neff. Further measurements on Be-12 are scheduled for fall this year. The article is for a short while accessible online for free here.
New detection device installed inside the ESR
A new detection device for laser spectroscopy on lithium-like Bismuth ions inside the ESR was installed behind the gas target region. It consists of an off-axis parabolic mirror that has a slit in the center, such that it can be moved into the beam. While the beam passes the slit, photons emitted under small angles before the mirror are efficiently directed towards a photomultiplier or a different single-photon detector. This allows to bring the short-wavelength photons which are from the relativistic beam favorably in forward direction emitted, efficiently onto the detector system. The system was developed in close collaboration with the group of Prof. Christian Weinheimer from the University Münster.
The symposium takes place on Friday 12 March, from 11:00 until 15:00, in "Hörsaal A001" (Wilhelm-Busch-Straße, Hannover).
The symposium for "Precision spectroscopy of highly ionized matter" brings together three separate fields: plasma physics (PP), atomic physics (AP), and mass spectrometry (MS). Six well-known representatives from these communities have been invited to give overviews of their respective research areas, highlighting progress in high-precision spectroscopic methods. These sophisticated techniques are the key to probing highly ionized matter in various forms, including: slow and cold highly charged ions in traps; fast and relativistic highly charged ions in EBITs and storage rings; and hot, dense plasmas generated by high-intensity lasers.
The 6 invited speakers are:
Paul Indelicato (AP),
Szilard Nagy (MS),
Ingo Uschmann (PP),
Fritz Bosch (AP/MS),
José Crespo Lopez-Urrutia (PP), and
Nigel Woolsey (PP)
Symposium organizers:
Danyal Winters (GSI),
Frank Herfurth (GSI),
Paul Gibbon (FZ Jülich)
Philipp-Siedler Award in Science 2009 for Renate Märtin
Renate Märtin received the Philipp-Siedler Award in Science 2009 for her excellent diploma thesis with the title "Entwicklung eines Kristallspektrometers zur Untersuchung von Innerschalenübergängen in hochgeladenen Ionen".
Successful Charge Breeding
At the end of September 2009 the HITRAP group succeeded to charge breed up to hydrogen-like potassium from singly charged, externally produced, potassium ions in the SPARC-EBIT. The SPARC-EBIT is an electron beam ion trap in which the magnetic field of 250 mT for electron beam compression is created by permanent magnets. The purpose of this EBIT is to deliver a variety of elements and charge states for HITRAP test experiments and later for the SPARC collaboration at FAIR. However, not all desired elements can be injected gaseous. Hence, to extend the available species externally produced singly charged ions must be injected. The proof of this principle for a compact, room-temperature EBIT has been achieved now. After charge breeding the highly-charged potassium ions were extracted and analyzed using a magnetic dipole field. A typical extraction spectrum is shown in the figure. Herein, the intensities of the different charge states of potassium after two seconds breeding are displayed.
On Sep 29th Prof. F. Bosch held a memorial lecture for the swedish nobel prize winner Manne Siegbahn on "Experiments on the beta decay of highly-ionized atoms with challenging and puzzling results". The lecture was held in the context of the AlbaNova and Nordita Colloquium at the Oskar Klein Auditorium at Albanova University in Sweden.
New publication on "transition frequencies in the 2s-3s two-photon transition of stable lithium isotopes" selected for IOPSelect
Recently the laser spectroscopy group LaserSpHERe was able to measure the frequencies of the 2S-3S transition in neutral 6Li and 7Li atoms using the same experimental set-up that was used to measure the isotope shifts of short-lived lithium isotopes. The laser stabilization to an iodine line was replaced by a stabilization to a femto-second frequency comb and a relative accuracy at the level of few times 10-10 was achieved. These measurements are now published at the "New Journal of Physics" New J. Phys. 11 (2009) 073016.
The article has been selected by the editors for inclusion in "IOP Select", meaning that the article fulfills one or more of the following criteria: substantial advances or significant breakthroughs, high degree of novelty, or significant impact of future research.
Dr. Alexandre Gumberidze leads the EMMI-Young Investigator Group in Atomic physics
Dr. Alexandre Gumberidze took over the EMMI-Young Investigator Group in Atomic physics. He wrote his dissertation on the topic of "QED in Strong Coulomb Fields" at GSI and was promoted in 2003 at the university of Frankfurt. After that he worked as a postdoc at the IMP in Lanzhou, China and at the university Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris.
The Helmholtz institute in Jena has been founded. The central research will be on lasers and accelerators to investigate extreme states of matter.
Zum 01.07.2009 nimmt das neue Helmholtz-Institut Mainz (HIM), die erste gemeinsame Einrichtung der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft mit einer Universität, seine Arbeit auf. In der Einrichtung kooperieren künftig das GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt und die Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz in der Erforschung von Struktur, Symmetrie und Stabilität von Materie und Antimaterie (siehe Uni-Pressemitteilung). Die Arbeitsgruppe LaserSphere ist über Ihre Projekte zu den "Tests fundamentaler Symmetrien" an der Atomphysikabteilung des Instituts und über die Aktivitäten am TRIGA an der "Physik und Chemie der schwersten Elemente" beteiligt.
Wilfried Nörtershäuser zum Juniorprofessor ernannt
Am 30.04.2009 wurde Wilfried Nörtershäuser zum Juniorprofessor im Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Mainz ernannt. Dies ist auch eine große Anerkennung für die Erfolge der Helmholtz-Hochschul Nachwuchsgruppe LaserSpHERe in den letzten Jahren, die nur durch die gemeinsamen Anstrengungen aller Arbeitsgruppenmitglieder und der verschiedenen Experimentkollaborationen möglich wurden.
Neuer Test der Lorentzinvarianz mit Lithiumionen am ESR
In der Februar-Strahlzeit am ESR wurden 7Li+-Ionen bei einer Geschwindigkeit von 33.8 % der Lichtgeschwindigkeit mit zwei kollinear ausgerichteten Anregungslasern spektroskopisch untersucht. Erstmals konnte dieses Experiment mit voller Frequenzauflösung (Δν/ν < 2 x 10-9) durchgeführt werden, wodurch eine Empfindlichkeit für Abweichungen zur Lorentzinvarianz in der Größenordnung 10-8 erreicht wird. Mit weiteren Messreihen, in denen geometrische Unsicherheiten quantifiziert werden, erwarten wir, dass dieses Limit um einen weiteren Faktor 10 verbessert werden kann.
Kernladungsradien von 7,9,10Be und dem Ein-Neutron-Halo-Kern 11Be
Die Messungen der Kernladungsradien der Berylliumisotope und speziell des Ein-Neutronen-Halo Isotops Be-11 wurden in der hochangesehenen Zeitschrift Physical Review Letters veröffentlicht. Nähere Informationen im Artikel.
Mehr zum Projekt auf der BeTINa Webseite.
Siehe auch die Pressemitteilung der Uni Mainz.
2008
EMMI Kickoff-Meeting
More information about EMMI on official internet page: Zur Pressemitteilung der Helmholtz-Gesellschaft
A new young investigators group has been allowed: Dr. Andrey Surzhykov (MPI for nuclear physics, Heidelberg) will create new bonds between the university of Heidelberg and GSI with the topic of "Relativistic quantum theory of few-electron-systems in strong fields: Atomic physics at high-Z". The atomic physics department congratulates Andrey Surzhykov for this award.
The proposal 'Cosmic Matter in the Laboratory' of the GSI passed the senate of the Helmholtz Alliance.
Certificate for engagement in professional training
GSI was rewarded with a certificate for engagement in professional training during the contest "Der Beste Praktikumsbericht".
One of Angela Bräuning-Demian's trainees won the contest. The AP group congratulates on this achievement.
First HITRAP Beam Test
During the week 14-20 May 2007 the first section of the HITRAP linear decelerator, which comprises the two cavities of the double-drift buncher, was tested with a 64Ni beam from the ESR. This was the first in a series of beamtimes, which aim at successively commissioning the different sections of the HITRAP facility.
The ion beam in the ESR was successfully decelerated to 4 MeV/u under stable conditions and extracted towards the HITRAP cave. Finally, the emittance of the extracted beam was measured and the beam was detected in the diagnostic chamber close to the IH decelerator.
O. Kester, J. Kluge, W. Quint und T. Stöhlker for the HITRAP team
On Mai 22, 2007 the farewell colloquium for Prof. H.-J. Kluge took place.
The atomic physics department thanks for his exceptional engagement during the last 14 years and wishes him all the best for the future!
Penningtrap-System RETrap has arrived
RETrap is a cryogenic Penning trap setup designed to capture and store highly-charged ions extracted from an EBIS or from any other external source. The cryogenic surrounding allows for efficient cooling of the ions during storage, thus opening the possibility for precision experiments with ions nearly at rest. Its optical accessibility furthermore allows laser cooling, laser excitation and optical observation, making it an ideal tool for precision spectroscopy of highly charged ions.
RETrap was designed and developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and will be set up at GSI in Darmstadt. While at LLNL, the RETrap group has successfully introduced highly-charged ions (Xe[44+] and Th[68+]) from an EBIT into RETrap and kept them in the trap for more than 20 seconds. Ions were cooled using both resistive and laser Doppler cooling techniques and the process of charge-exchange recombination between the ions and neutral gas atoms was observed.
New Head of Atomic Physics Division
Since April 1, 2007, Professor Dr. Thomas Stöhlker is new head of Atomic Physics Division. He took over Prof. Kluges's duties who retired after 14 years of successful leadership. A colloquium in his honour will be celebrated on May 22, 2007, at GSI lecture hall.
Teaching Award of Rheinland-Pfalz for Klaus Blaum
Klaus Blaum, leader of the youg investigators group MATS gets the teaching award of Rheinland-Pfalz endowed with 10.000 Euro. The goal of this award is to markoutstanding achievements in teaching. The decision was made by an appointed jury, consisting of external experts,members of university management boards and also students, on the basis of teaching evaluations. The awardwill be given on April 19th 2007 in Kaiserslautern at the "Tag der Lehre" (Day of Teaching). The Atomic Physics division congratulates Mr. Blaum to this award.
26.03.07: Wissenschaftstag der Centralstation Darmstadt: Die GSI stellt sich vor
[Translate to English:] Wissenschaftstag: Reise ins Innerste der Materie
Die Darmstädter Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, kurz GSI, hat nicht nur in Fachkreisen einen hohen Bekanntheitsgrad, spätestens seit 2003 - als ein von der Gesellschaft entdecktes chemisches Element auf den Namen 'Darmstadtium' getauft wurde - ist sie auch Laien ein Begriff. Darüber hinaus wurde von der GSI eine neuartige Krebstherapie mittels Ionenstrahlen entwickelt, die seit einigen Jahren mit großem Erfolg eingesetzt wird. Trotzdem ist es schwierig sich vorzustellen, was in einem solchen Institut geschieht.
Zurzeit wird daran gearbeitet, die Forschungsarbeiten auf ein völlig neues Niveau zu bringen. Auf dem Gelände der GSI wird das große internationale Beschleunigerzentrum FAIR entstehen. FAIR ist die Abkürzung für 'Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research', eine Einrichtung für Antiprotonen- und Ionenstrahlen-Forschung, die sich dem Aufbau der Materie widmet und für Physiker in der ganzen Welt von Bedeutung sein wird.
Am Montag, den 26. März, stellt Dr. Ingo Peter (Öffentlichkeitsarbeit) im Rahmen des 'Wissenschaftstags' die Arbeit der Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in der Centralstation vor und gibt dem Publikum einen Einblick in die Grundlagenforschung der Physik und in das FAIR-Projekt.
Der monatlich stattfindende Wissenschaftstag ist eine Initiative der Centralstation, die die Arbeit herausragender Wissenschaftler und Forschungsinstitute in Darmstadt der Öffentlichkeit präsentiert und damit zur Diskussion anregen möchte.
Beginn: 18:00 Uhr, Einlass: 17:00 Uhr, der Eintritt ist frei.
Report from the 3. SPARC collaboration meeting in Paris
This years SPARC collaboration workshop "Novel Research Opportunities for Atomic Physics with Heavy Ions: Facilities and Instrumentation" was organized by P. Indelicato, D. Vernhet, E. Lamour and C. Prigent and was attended by almost 100 participants. The meeting took place from the 12. to 15. Feb. and was hosted by the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris at the Boucicaut campus.
A series of 45 invited plenary presentations and 20 posters reviewed the status and current progress of SPARC in the FAIR project at GSI. Working groups presented recent advances in spectrometers and techniques for instrumentation to be implemented in the future NESR. The latest developments in low and ultra-low energy storage rings joining SPARC and FLAIR were outlined. The talks covered the entire range of activities of the collaboration, from laser cooling of C3+ in the ESR, a dielectronic recombination experiment at the ESR determining isotope shifts between 142Nb and 150Nb, first results from the reaction microscope and the forward electron spectrometer in the ESR, to commissioning of a low-temperature micro-calorimeter and commissioning experiments with the FOCAL crystal spectrometer.
The status of international collaboration/participation contracts and the memorandum of understanding was reviewed. New appointments to the collaboration board to be made during the coming year were discussed in the plenum. The international ICPEAC conference in Freiburg, taking place from the 25. July to 31. July, was tentatively envisaged as the location for the next meeting.
ipl. Phys. Jens Ketelaer receives this year's Wolfgang-Paul-Prize for Student Research of the German Mass Spectrometry Society (DGMS)and the prize of the "VDI-Bezirksverein Rheingau" for excellent achievement in engineering or science. Both prizes are awarded for his excellentdiploma thesis about the development of a non-destructive highly sensitive Fourier Transform-Ion Cyclotron Resonance detection technique usedfor single charged ions in Penning trap mass spectrometry. The Atomic Physics Department at GSI congratulates Jens Ketelaer for this success.
New Helmholtz Young Investigator Groups
The Atomic Physics Division at GSI is very happy about theapproval of the grant applications of Robert Grisenti und Carsten Welsch for Helmholtz Young Investigator Groups. They will perform important R&D work towards atomic physics experiments at the FAIR facility. The group of Carsten Welsch will prepare at the University of Heidelberg the Ultra-low Energy Storage Ring (USR) for the FLAIR collaboration while Robert Grisenti will develop at the Institute for Nuclear Physics at the University of Frankfurt a cryogenic liquid micro jet for the New Experimental Storage Ring (NESR) and the High-Energy Storage Ring (HESR). Furthermore, a prolongation by two years was awarded to the Helmholtz Young Investigator Group of Klaus Blaum working on physics with trapped ions at the Institute for Physics at the University of Mainz.
NeuMa Workshop
A Workshop on "Neutrino mass determination in the electron capture process (NeuMa)" will be held at GSI on March 8-9, 2007. For more information check the First Circular (PDF).
From 12th - 15th of February 2007 a workshop about "Novel Research Opportunities for Atomic Physics with Heavy Ions: Facilities and Instrumentation" is taking place in Paris.
On the 20th und 21st of November a Workshop on "Low-energy atomic physics experiments at HITRAP and Cave A" took place.
Workshop on "Advanced Laser and Mass Spectrometry" (ALMAS-1) was successful
On 19./20. October at GSI a workshop about "Advanced Laser and Mass Spectrometry" (ALMAS-1) has been organized by the FAIR collaborations ILIMA, LaSpec and MATS. 20 invited speakers gave an overview of the recent results in laser and mass spectrometry. Many of them discussed the new experimental potentialities at the accelerators of the next generation (especially FAIR). During the workshop experimental stopping techniques of ion beams in gas cells and the currently developed novel methods of laser and mass spectrometry in ion traps and storage rings have been discussed as well as various nuclear models and the indication of chaotic processes inside atomic nuclei. The talks were averagely visited by 60 -70 auditors. They will shortly be available on the webpage www-alt.gsi.de/forschung/ap/conferences/almas/.
A Bragg Spectrometer has arrived
A Bragg spectrometer dedicated for x-ray spectroscopy experiments with HCI in the 2 to 10 keV region has arrived at GSI. The spectrometer has been developed for experiments planned within the SPARC collaboration and will already be used for x-ray spectroscopy at the ESR as well as at HITRAP. The commissioning of the spectrometer including soft- and hardware development (CCD-camera system, crystal holder and alignment etc. ) was performed at the University of Kielce by D. Banas, P. Jagodzinski, M. Pajek et al..
Die Europäische Physikalische Gesellschaft hat Jürgen Kluge und David Brink den Lise Meitner Preis für Atomwissenschaften 2006 zugesprochen. Prof. Jürgen Kluge hat mit entscheidenden, anspruchsvollen und hervorragenden Experimenten durch Kombination atom- und kernphysikalischer Methoden unser Wissen über Masse, Größe, Form und Spin von Atomkernen stark erweitert. Er wird für seine Schlüsselbeiträge auf diesen Gebieten geehrt. Eine seiner bedeutenden Entwicklungen, das Penningfallen-Massenspektrometer ISOLTRAP an der ISOLDE-Anlage am CERN/Genf, führte zu einer Neueinstellung der Kernmassenskala über weite Bereiche der Nuklidkarte fern der Stabilität. Jürgen Kluge hat mit seiner Fachkenntnis und seiner Begeisterung für die Physik mehr als 50 Doktoranden inspiriert. Die Atomphysik der GSI gratuliert Jürgen Kluge dazu herzlichst!
Workshop on "Charge breeding and related topics"
22 - 24 May 2006
Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg-Haus (IBZ) of GSI and TU Darmstadt, Germany
Verleihung des Wolfgang-Paul-Studienpreises an Herrn Dipl. Phys. Sebastian George
Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Massenspektrometrie (DGMS) verleiht Herrn Sebastian George den diesjährigen Wolfgang-Paul-Studienpreis für seine Diplomarbeit über die Implementierung der Ramsey-Technik in der Penning-Fallen-Massenspektrometrie. Die Preisverleihung findet im Rahmen der DGMS-Jahrestagung vom 05.-08.03.2006 in Mainz statt. Mit dem Preis, der seit 1997 verliehen wird, werden alljährlich die besten Diplom- und Doktorarbeiten auf dem Gebiet der Massenspektrometrie ausgezeichnet. Der Preis erinnert an Prof. Wolfgang Paul, der für seine grundlegenden Arbeiten zur Ionenfalle und zu ionenoptischen Geräten den Nobelpreis im Jahre 1989 erhielt (zusammen mit N.F. Ramsey und H. Dehmelt). Die Helmholtz-Hochschul-Nachwuchsgruppe MATS an der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz und der GSI Darmstadt freuen sich gemeinsam mit Sebastian George über die Anerkennung seiner Arbeiten.
FANTOM study week
Leuven, Belgium, June 2003, lectures of Fritz Bosch (please download the pdf-files, if you have problems to open it directly)
Principles of (Ion) Storage Rings, 1.8MB
Experiments in Ion Storage Rings: mass and lifetime measurements, 4.5MB