First isochronous mass spectrometry at the experimental storage ring ESR

Short-lived exotic nuclei can be produced and separated with the high-energy secondary nuclear beam facility FRS at GSI. These nuclides can be injected and stored in the storage ring ESR. The lower lifetime limit of the presently existing methods for mass measurements on these nuclides at the ESR is about a few seconds. We have developed and investigated an isochronous operational mode of the ESR, that makes mass measurements of nuclides with lifetimes down to a few Irs feasible. It has been commissioned in experiments using long-lived nuclides with known masses. A mass resolving power of about 150 000 has been achieved in a first pilot experiment. A suitable detector system has been implemented and commissioned at the ESR that allows measurements of the revolution period of single particles within a few turns in the ESR. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.