Development of a New Injection Trap System for Mass Measurements of the Most Exotic Isotopes at the FRS Ion Catcher, GSI

In recent years a new type of mass spectrometer (so called multiple-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer) has been introduced and very successfully brought into operation at almost all major radioactive beam facilities. In these devices long flight path (up to a km of path length) are achieved by storing ions between two electrostatic ion mirrors. Further, these devices are not only capable of performing mass measurements, but can also be used to identify and quantify reaction products or daughter nuclides following radioactive decays.

The FRS Ion Catcher experiment at the current GSI facility, Darmstadt, Germany serves as the test bench for the future LEB and allows precision studies already now. Joining forces with the FRS Ion Catcher collaboration in the search for new isotopes being produced via Pb fragmentation at relativistic energies or via multinuclear transfer reactions. The main goal of these experiments will be to produce and identify new neutron-rich isotopes in the element range between terbium and lead and to measure their production cross sections, masses and half-lives. Particular the new mass values will be highly relevant for the third peak of the rapid neutron capture process (r-process), which is believed to be responsible for the creation of half of the stable isotopes beyond iron.