Xinwen Ma

Low energy (e, 2e) study from the 1t(2) orbital of CH4.

Single ionization of the methane (CH(4)) 1t(2) orbital by 54 eV electron impact has been studied experimentally and theoretically. The measured triple differential cross sections cover nearly a 4π solid angle for the emission of low energy electrons and a range of projectile scattering angles. Experimental data are compared with theoretical calculations from the distorted wave Born approximation and the molecular three-body distorted wave models. It is found that theory can give a proper description of the main features of experimental cross section only at smaller scattering angles. For larger scattering angles, significant discrepancies between experiment and theory are observed. The importance of the strength of nuclear scattering from the H-nuclei was theoretically tested by reducing the distance between the carbon nuclei and the hydrogen nuclei and improved agreement with experiment was found for both the scattering plane and the perpendicular plane.

Between atomic and nuclear physics: radioactive decays of highly-charged ions

Highly charged radioactive ions can be stored for extended periods of time in storage rings which allows for precision measurements of their decay modes. The straightforward motivation for performing such studies is that fully ionised nuclei or few-electron ions can be viewed as clean quantum-mechanical systems, in which the interactions of the many electrons can be either excluded or treated precisely. Thus, the influence of the electron shell on the decay probability can be investigated. Another important motivation is stellar nucleosynthesis, which proceeds at high temperatures and the involved atoms are therefore highly ionised. Presented here is a compact review of the relevant experiments conducted at heavy-ion storage rings. Furthermore, we outline the perspectives for future experiments at new-generation storage-ring facilities.

Beta decay of highly charged ions

Ion storage rings and ion traps provide the very first opportunity to address nuclear beta decay under conditions prevailing in hot stellar plasmas during nucleosynthesis, i.e. at high atomic charge states. Experiments are summarized that were performed in this field during the last decade at the ion storage-cooler ring ESR in Darmstadt. Special emphasis is given to the first observation of bound-state beta decay, where the created electron remains bound in an inner orbital of the daughter atom. The impact of this specific ‘stellar’ decay mode for s-process nucleosynthesis as well as for nuclear ‘eon clocks’ is outlined. Finally, a new technique, single-ion decay spectroscopy, is presented, where one observes two-body beta decay characteristics (i.e. orbital electron capture or bound-state beta decay) of highly charged, single ions for well-defined nuclear and atomic quantum states of both the mother – and the daughter – ion.

Comment on “Dynamical (e, 2e) studies using tetrahydrofuran as a DNA analog” [J. Chem. Phys. 133, 124302 (2010)]

In a series of (e, 2e) studies on H2O, CHOOH, tetrahydrofuran (THF), smaller recoil contributions for CHOOH, and THF molecules were observed compared to H2O [C. J. Colyer, S. M. Bellm, B. Lohmann, G. F. Hanne, O. Al-Hagan, D. H. Madison, and C. G. Ning, J. Chem. Phys. 133, 124302 (2010)]10.1063/1.3491030. The authors suggested an explanation that the enhancement might be due to the molecular structure, i.e., the existence of an atom at the center-of-mass. However, we propose that particular kinematics and the electron momentum distribution on the molecules may result in the observed enhancement.

High-energy picosecond near-vacuum ultraviolet pulses generated by sum-frequency mixing of an amplified Ti: Sapphire laser

We demonstrate high-energy picosecond near-vacuum ultraviolet laser pulse generation. Frequency quadrupling is achieved by noncollinear sum-frequency mixing of the fundamental and the third harmonic of a two-stage Ti:sapphire amplifier in beta-BaB(2)O(4) crystal. UV pulses with energies of approximately 10 mJ tunable from 195 to 210 nm at a 10 Hz repetition rate are obtained.

Direct mass measurements of neutron-rich 86Kr projectile fragments and the persistence of neutron magic number N=32 in Sc isotopes

In this paper, we present direct mass measurements of neutron-rich 86Kr projectile fragments conducted at the HIRFL-CSR facility in Lanzhou by employing the Isochronous Mass Spectrometry (IMS) method. The new mass excesses of 52–54Sc nuclides are determined to be −40492(82), −38928(114), −34654(540) keV, which show a significant increase of binding energy compared to the reported ones in the Atomic Mass Evaluation 2012 (AME12). In particular, 53Sc and 54Sc are more bound by 0.8 MeV and 1.0 MeV, respectively. The behavior of the two neutron separation energy with neutron numbers indicates a strong sub-shell closure at neutron number N=32 in Sc isotopes.

At the borderline between atomic and nuclear physics: two-body β-decay of highly charged ions

In this paper, we discuss the radioactive decay of highly charged ions. There are several motivations for performing this kind of research. One of them is that stellar nucleosynthesis proceeds at high temperatures and therefore the involved atoms are highly ionized. Highly charged ions also offer the possibility of addressing the decay of well-defined quantum-mechanical systems such as, for example, one-electron ions, where all the interactions with other electrons are excluded. These studies can be performed solely at ion storage rings or ion traps, where the high atomic charge states can be preserved for extended periods of time. Although we have focused on experiments conducted at the storage ring ESR of GSI, we have tried to describe the general requirements for such experiments.

Future experiments using forward electron spectroscopy to study the quantum dynamics of high-Z ions at the ESR/CRYRING storage rings

At the FAIR facility for antiproton and ion research, the new ESR + CRYRING combination of storage rings CRYRING@ESR opens up a wealth of opportunities for in-ring atomic physics experiments on few-body quantum dynamics. The low-energy storage ring CRYRING will serve in its new location at FAIR/ESR for experiments with decelerated antiprotons and highly charged ions. We will discuss selected new experiments in the field of quantum dynamics of high-Z ions, for example for adiabatic superheavy quasi-molecules transiently formed with bare and H-like projectiles. Such experiments will be for the first time possible at the future CRYRING at ESR.

An (e, 2e + ion) investigation of dissociative ionization of methane.

We present in this paper an (e, 2e + ion) investigation of the dissociative ionization of methane by 54 eV electron impact employing the advanced reaction microscope. By measuring two electrons and the ion in the final state in triple coincidence, the species of the ions are identified and the energies deposited into the target are determined. The species and the kinetic energies of the fragmented ion show strong dependence on the intermediate states of the parent ion. Possible decay pathways for the production of different species of ions are analyzed.

Electron cooling experiments in CSR

The six species heavy ion beam was accumulated with the help of electron cooling in the main ring of Cooler Storage Ring of Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou(HIRFL-CSR), the ion beam accumulation dependence on the parameters of cooler was investigated experimentally. The 400MeV/u C and 200MeV/u Xe was stored and cooled in the experimental ring CSRe, the cooling force was measured in different condition.