Advancing Radiation-Detected Resonance Ionization towards Heavier Elements and More Exotic Nuclides

Journal article in the Special Issue "Atomic Structure of the Heaviest Elements" in Atoms submitted in the context of the "Virtual Workshop on the Atomic Structure of Actinides & Related Topics" conference proceedings.

In our article, we report on the recent developments in the Radiation Detected Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (RADRIS) method for applications to the heaviest actinides. This method is based on laser spectroscopy, which is a powerful tool to study the atomic and nuclear structure of these exotic elements allowing to benchmark theoretical studies. As the heaviest actinides do not naturally occur on earth, they need to be artificially produced in atom-at-a-time quantities at large-scale accelerator facilities and studied immediately after production due to their short half-lives. The RADRIS method is dedicated to the study of the heaviest elements, as common laser spectroscopy techniques are not capable of performing such challenging low-yield experiments. Only recently, the first laser spectroscopic investigation of nobelium (Z=102) was performed by applying the RADRIS technique in a buffer-gas filled stopping cell at the GSI in Darmstadt, Germany. To extend this technique for more short-lived and more long-lived nuclides and to enhance the overall efficiency of RADRIS, multiple developments were performed, which are described in our article. With the recent advances in this technique, the first laser spectroscopy of the short-lived ²⁵¹No (t_1/2=0.8s) will become possible with RADRIS and the newly enhanced efficiency will benefit future experiments on the search for atomic levels in the heaviest actinide element, lawrencium (Z=103).