NUSTAR Seminar

06.02.2013 | 

The FRS Ion Catcher comprises the FRS operated as a combination of separator and energy buncher, a cryogenic stopping cell (CSC) and a multiple-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MR-TOF-MS). Projectile and fission fragments are produced at relativistic energies at the FRS, separated in-flight, range-focused, slowed-down and thermalized in the CSC. The MR-TOF-MS is used to perform direct mass measurements and to provide an isobarically clean beam to further experiments. The FRS Ion Catcher also serves as a test facility for the Low-Energy Branch of the Super-FRS at FAIR, where the CSC and the MR-TOF-MS will be key devices for experiments with stopped projectile and fission fragments with the experiments MATS and LaSpec.
In October 2011 and in July/August 2012, the CSC and the MR-TOF-MS have been commissioned on-line at the FRS Ion Catcher. For the first time, a stopping cell for exotic nuclei was operated on-line at cryogenic temperatures and direct mass measurements of projectile fragments were performed with an MR-TOF-MS, among them the nuclide 213-Rn with a half-life of just 20 ms.