title: In-trap spectroscopy of charge-bred radioactive ions.
abstract: In this Letter, we introduce the concept of in-trap nuclear decay spectroscopy of highly charged radioactive ions and describe its successful application as a novel spectroscopic tool. This is demonstrated by a measurement of the decay properties of radioactive mass A=124 ions (here, ^{124}In and ^{124}Cs) in the electron-beam ion trap of the TITAN facility at TRIUMF. By subjecting the trapped ions to an intense electron beam, the ions are charge bred to high charge states (i.e., equivalent to the removal of N-shell electrons), and an increase of storage times to the level of minutes without significant ion losses is achieved. The present technique opens the venue for precision spectroscopy of low branching ratios and is being developed in the context of measuring electron-capture branching ratios needed for determining the nuclear ground-state properties of the intermediate odd-odd nuclei in double-beta (ββ) decay.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, 48149 Münster, Germany and TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lennarz
authors.affiliation: TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada and Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grossheim
authors.affiliation: TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada and Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada.
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Leach
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alanssari
authors.affiliation: TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brunner
authors.affiliation: TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chaudhuri
authors.affiliation: TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada and Department of Physics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Crespo López-Urrutia
authors.affiliation: TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada.
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Gallant
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Holl
authors.affiliation: TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Kwiatkowski
authors.affiliation: TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lassen
authors.affiliation: TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada.
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Macdonald
authors.affiliation: TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada.
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Schultz
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seeraji
authors.affiliation: TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Andreoiu
authors.affiliation: TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dilling
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Frekers