Recoil-ion trapping for precision mass measurements

Abstract

For the first time masses of recoiling daughter ions have been measured that were held after beta-decay in a buffer-gas-filled Penning trap. From the masses of the trapped beta-decaying manganese ions Mn-61-63(+) and the daughter recoil-ions Fe-61-63(+) the Q values of Mn61-63 have been deduced with absolute uncertainties of about 5 keV. The observed yields of iron ions are compared to the results from simulations, which confirm a recoil-ion trapping efficiency of about 50%.