Exploring the Nuclear Chart via Precision Mass Spectrometry with the TITAN MR-TOF MS

Annabelle Czihaly; Soenke Beck; Julian Bergmann; Callum L. Brown; Thomas Brunner; Timo Dickel; Jens Dilling; Eleanor Dunling; Jake Flowerdew; Danny Fusco; Leigh Graham; Zach Hockenbery; Chris Izzo; Andrew Jacobs; Brian Kootte; Yang Lan; Stephan Malbrunot-Ettenauer; Fernando Maldonado Millán; Ali Mollaebrahimi; Erich Leistenschneider; Eleni Marina Lykiardopoulou; Ish Mukul; Stefan F. Paul; Wolfgang R. Plaß; Moritz Pascal Reiter; Christoph Scheidenberger; James L. Tracy; A. A. Kwiatkowski

doi:10.3390/atoms13010006

Exploring the Nuclear Chart via Precision Mass Spectrometry with the TITAN MR-TOF MS

Annabelle Czihaly
, Soenke Beck
, Julian Bergmann
, Callum L. Brown
, Thomas Brunner
, Timo Dickel
, Jens Dilling
, Eleanor Dunling
, Jake Flowerdew
, Danny Fusco
, Leigh Graham
, Zach Hockenbery
, Chris Izzo
, Andrew Jacobs
, Brian Kootte
, Yang Lan
, Stephan Malbrunot-Ettenauer
, Fernando Maldonado Millán
, Ali Mollaebrahimi
, Erich Leistenschneider

Eleni Marina Lykiardopoulou, Ish Mukul, Stefan F. Paul, Wolfgang R. Plaß, Moritz Pascal Reiter, Christoph Scheidenberger, James L. Tracy, A. A. Kwiatkowski

Neutron Sciences Directorate

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Isotopes at the limits of nuclear existence are of great interest for their critical role in nuclear astrophysical reactions and their exotic structure. Experimentally, exotic nuclides are challenging to address due to their low production cross-sections, overwhelming amounts of contamination, and lifetimes of typically less than a second. To this end, a Multiple-Reflection Time-of-Flight mass spectrometer at the TITAN-TRIUMF facility was built to determine atomic masses. This device is the preferred tool to work with exotic nuclides due to its ability to resolve the species of interest from contamination and short measurement cycle times, enabling mass measurements of isotopes with millisecond half-lives. With a relative precision of the order 10⁻⁷, we demonstrate why the TITAN MR-TOF MS is the tool of choice for precision mass surveys for nuclear structure and astrophysics. The capabilities of the device are showcased in this work, including new mass measurements of short-lived tin isotopes (^104–107Sn) approaching the proton dripline as well as ⁸⁹Zr, ⁹⁰Y, and ⁹¹Y. The last three illustrate how the broadband surveys of MR-TOF MS reach beyond the species of immediate interest.

Original language	English
Article number	6
Journal	Atoms
Volume	13
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/atoms13010006
State	Published - Jan 2025

Funding

This work was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada and the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada through TRIUMF as well as from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) under contracts no. 05P19RGFN1 and 05P21RGFN1, the German Research Foundation (DFG) under contract no. 422761894, by HGS-HIRe, by Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen and GSI under the JLU-GSI strategic Helmholtz partnership agreement.

Keywords

experimental nuclear physics
ion traps
mass spectrometry
proton dripline
radioactive ion beams
time-of-flight mass spectrometry

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10.3390/atoms13010006

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Czihaly, A., Beck, S., Bergmann, J., Brown, C. L., Brunner, T., Dickel, T., Dilling, J., Dunling, E., Flowerdew, J., Fusco, D., Graham, L., Hockenbery, Z., Izzo, C., Jacobs, A., Kootte, B., Lan, Y., Malbrunot-Ettenauer, S., Millán, F. M., Mollaebrahimi, A., ... Kwiatkowski, A. A. (2025). Exploring the Nuclear Chart via Precision Mass Spectrometry with the TITAN MR-TOF MS. Atoms, 13(1), Article 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/atoms13010006

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title = "Exploring the Nuclear Chart via Precision Mass Spectrometry with the TITAN MR-TOF MS",

abstract = "Isotopes at the limits of nuclear existence are of great interest for their critical role in nuclear astrophysical reactions and their exotic structure. Experimentally, exotic nuclides are challenging to address due to their low production cross-sections, overwhelming amounts of contamination, and lifetimes of typically less than a second. To this end, a Multiple-Reflection Time-of-Flight mass spectrometer at the TITAN-TRIUMF facility was built to determine atomic masses. This device is the preferred tool to work with exotic nuclides due to its ability to resolve the species of interest from contamination and short measurement cycle times, enabling mass measurements of isotopes with millisecond half-lives. With a relative precision of the order 10−7, we demonstrate why the TITAN MR-TOF MS is the tool of choice for precision mass surveys for nuclear structure and astrophysics. The capabilities of the device are showcased in this work, including new mass measurements of short-lived tin isotopes (104–107Sn) approaching the proton dripline as well as 89Zr, 90Y, and 91Y. The last three illustrate how the broadband surveys of MR-TOF MS reach beyond the species of immediate interest.",

keywords = "experimental nuclear physics, ion traps, mass spectrometry, proton dripline, radioactive ion beams, time-of-flight mass spectrometry",

author = "Annabelle Czihaly and Soenke Beck and Julian Bergmann and Brown, \{Callum L.\} and Thomas Brunner and Timo Dickel and Jens Dilling and Eleanor Dunling and Jake Flowerdew and Danny Fusco and Leigh Graham and Zach Hockenbery and Chris Izzo and Andrew Jacobs and Brian Kootte and Yang Lan and Stephan Malbrunot-Ettenauer and Mill{\'a}n, \{Fernando Maldonado\} and Ali Mollaebrahimi and Erich Leistenschneider and Lykiardopoulou, \{Eleni Marina\} and Ish Mukul and Paul, \{Stefan F.\} and Pla{\ss}, \{Wolfgang R.\} and Reiter, \{Moritz Pascal\} and Christoph Scheidenberger and Tracy, \{James L.\} and Kwiatkowski, \{A. A.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 by the authors.",

year = "2025",

month = jan,

doi = "10.3390/atoms13010006",

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Czihaly, A, Beck, S, Bergmann, J, Brown, CL, Brunner, T, Dickel, T, Dilling, J, Dunling, E, Flowerdew, J, Fusco, D, Graham, L, Hockenbery, Z, Izzo, C, Jacobs, A, Kootte, B, Lan, Y, Malbrunot-Ettenauer, S, Millán, FM, Mollaebrahimi, A, Leistenschneider, E, Lykiardopoulou, EM, Mukul, I, Paul, SF, Plaß, WR, Reiter, MP, Scheidenberger, C, Tracy, JL & Kwiatkowski, AA 2025, 'Exploring the Nuclear Chart via Precision Mass Spectrometry with the TITAN MR-TOF MS', Atoms, vol. 13, no. 1, 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/atoms13010006

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T1 - Exploring the Nuclear Chart via Precision Mass Spectrometry with the TITAN MR-TOF MS

AU - Czihaly, Annabelle

AU - Beck, Soenke

AU - Bergmann, Julian

AU - Brown, Callum L.

AU - Brunner, Thomas

AU - Dickel, Timo

AU - Dilling, Jens

AU - Dunling, Eleanor

AU - Flowerdew, Jake

AU - Fusco, Danny

AU - Graham, Leigh

AU - Hockenbery, Zach

AU - Izzo, Chris

AU - Jacobs, Andrew

AU - Kootte, Brian

AU - Lan, Yang

AU - Malbrunot-Ettenauer, Stephan

AU - Millán, Fernando Maldonado

AU - Mollaebrahimi, Ali

AU - Leistenschneider, Erich

AU - Lykiardopoulou, Eleni Marina

AU - Mukul, Ish

AU - Paul, Stefan F.

AU - Plaß, Wolfgang R.

AU - Reiter, Moritz Pascal

AU - Scheidenberger, Christoph

AU - Tracy, James L.

AU - Kwiatkowski, A. A.

PY - 2025/1

Y1 - 2025/1

N2 - Isotopes at the limits of nuclear existence are of great interest for their critical role in nuclear astrophysical reactions and their exotic structure. Experimentally, exotic nuclides are challenging to address due to their low production cross-sections, overwhelming amounts of contamination, and lifetimes of typically less than a second. To this end, a Multiple-Reflection Time-of-Flight mass spectrometer at the TITAN-TRIUMF facility was built to determine atomic masses. This device is the preferred tool to work with exotic nuclides due to its ability to resolve the species of interest from contamination and short measurement cycle times, enabling mass measurements of isotopes with millisecond half-lives. With a relative precision of the order 10−7, we demonstrate why the TITAN MR-TOF MS is the tool of choice for precision mass surveys for nuclear structure and astrophysics. The capabilities of the device are showcased in this work, including new mass measurements of short-lived tin isotopes (104–107Sn) approaching the proton dripline as well as 89Zr, 90Y, and 91Y. The last three illustrate how the broadband surveys of MR-TOF MS reach beyond the species of immediate interest.

AB - Isotopes at the limits of nuclear existence are of great interest for their critical role in nuclear astrophysical reactions and their exotic structure. Experimentally, exotic nuclides are challenging to address due to their low production cross-sections, overwhelming amounts of contamination, and lifetimes of typically less than a second. To this end, a Multiple-Reflection Time-of-Flight mass spectrometer at the TITAN-TRIUMF facility was built to determine atomic masses. This device is the preferred tool to work with exotic nuclides due to its ability to resolve the species of interest from contamination and short measurement cycle times, enabling mass measurements of isotopes with millisecond half-lives. With a relative precision of the order 10−7, we demonstrate why the TITAN MR-TOF MS is the tool of choice for precision mass surveys for nuclear structure and astrophysics. The capabilities of the device are showcased in this work, including new mass measurements of short-lived tin isotopes (104–107Sn) approaching the proton dripline as well as 89Zr, 90Y, and 91Y. The last three illustrate how the broadband surveys of MR-TOF MS reach beyond the species of immediate interest.

KW - experimental nuclear physics

KW - ion traps

KW - mass spectrometry

KW - proton dripline

KW - radioactive ion beams

KW - time-of-flight mass spectrometry

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/86000236834

U2 - 10.3390/atoms13010006

DO - 10.3390/atoms13010006

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:86000236834

SN - 2218-2004

VL - 13

JO - Atoms

JF - Atoms

IS - 1

M1 - 6

ER -

Exploring the Nuclear Chart via Precision Mass Spectrometry with the TITAN MR-TOF MS

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