Isotopes at the limits of nuclear existence are of great interest for their critical role in nuclear astrophysical reactions and their exotic structure. Experimentally, exotic nuclides are challenging to address due to their low production cross-sections, overwhelming amounts of contamination, and lifetimes of typically less than a second. To this end, a Multiple-Reflection Time-of-Flight mass spectrometer at the TITAN-TRIUMF facility was built to determine atomic masses. This device is the preferred tool to work with exotic nuclides due to its ability to resolve the species of interest from contamination and short measurement cycle times, enabling mass measurements of isotopes with millisecond half-lives. With a relative precision of the order 10−7, we demonstrate why the TITAN MR-TOF MS is the tool of choice for precision mass surveys for nuclear structure and astrophysics. The capabilities of the device are showcased in this work, including new mass measurements of short-lived tin isotopes (104–107Sn) approaching the proton dripline as well as 89Zr, 90Y, and 91Y. The last three illustrate how the broadband surveys of MR-TOF MS reach beyond the species of immediate interest.

Isotopes at the limits of nuclear existence are of great interest for their critical role in nuclear astrophysical reactions and their exotic structure. Experimentally, exotic nuclides are challenging to address due to low production cross-sections, overwhelming amounts of contamination, and lifetimes typically less than a second. To this end, a Multiple-Reflection Time-of-Flight mass spectrometer at the TITAN-TRIUMF facility was built to determine atomic masses. This device is a preferred tool to work with exotic nuclides due to its ability to resolve the species of interest from contamination and short measurement cycle times enabling mass measurements of isotopes with millisecond half-lives. With a relative precision of order $10^{-7}$, we demonstrate why the TITAN MR-TOF MS is the tool of choice for precision mass surveys for nuclear structure and astrophysics. The capabilities of the device are showcased in this work including new mass measurements of short-lived tin isotopes ($^{104-107}$Sn) approaching the proton dripline as well as $^{89}$Zr, $^{90}$Y, and $^{91}$Y. The last three illustrate how the broadband surveys of MR-TOF MS reach beyond the species of immediate interest.

New mass values measured with the TITAN MR-TOF-MS are reported for the short-lived isotopes 24−26Ne, produced at TRIUMF's ISAC facility using a uranium carbide target and cold FEBIAD ion source. A least-squares adjustment within the framework of the Atomic Mass Evaluation was performed and the improved precision of the new mass values is highlighted. The improved mass accuracy in this N=14 mid-shell region can also point to the refinement in values of the charge radii. By reducing the mass uncertainty of isotopes, their contribution of the mass shift uncertainty in laser spectroscopy can be negated. The work is part of developments for reaching the N=20 Island of Inversion, where high molecular contamination hinders mass measurements of the neon isotopes.

The intensity frontier has called for new initiatives in hadron accelerator design in order to accommodate space charge dominated beams. Octupoles are often used to damp beam instabilities caused by space charge, however the insertion of octupole magnets leads to a nonintegrable lattice which reduces the area of stable particle motion. One proposed solution is Quasi-Integrable optics (QIO), where the octupoles are inserted between sections of a specific lattice insertion called a T-insert. An octupole with a strength that scales as 1/ β 3 (s) is applied in the drift region, where the horizontal and vertical beta functions are equal, to create a time independent octupole field. This leads to a lattice with a time-independent Hamiltonian which is robust to small perturbations. IBEX is a Paul trap which allows the transverse dynamics of a collection of trapped particles to be studied, mimicking the propagation through multiple quadrupole lattice periods, whilst remaining stationary in the laboratory frame. In order to test QIO at the IBEX experiment, it has recently undergone an upgrade to allow for the creation of octupole fields. We present our design of the IBEX experiment upgrade along with simulation results of our proposed experiment to test QIO with space charge.

The performance of high-precision mass spectrometry of radioactive isotopes can often be hindered by large amounts of contamination, including molecular species, stemming from the production of the radioactive beam. In this paper, we report on the development of Collision-Induced Dissociation (CID) as a means of background reduction for experiments at TRIUMF's Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear science (TITAN). This study was conducted to characterize the quality and purity of radioactive ion beams and the reduction of molecular contaminants to allow for mass measurements of radioactive isotopes to be done further from nuclear stability. This is the first demonstration of CID at an ISOL-type radioactive ion beam facility, and it is shown that molecular contamination can be reduced up to an order of magnitude.

High-accuracy mass measurements of neutron-deficient Yb isotopes have been performed at TRIUMF using TITAN's multiple-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MR-TOF-MS). For the first time, an MR-TOF-MS was used on line simultaneously as an isobar separator and as a mass spectrometer, extending the measurements to two isotopes further away from stability than otherwise possible. The ground state masses of ^{150,153}Yb and the excitation energy of ^{151}Yb^{m} were measured for the first time. As a result, the persistence of the N=82 shell with almost unmodified shell gap energies is established up to the proton drip line. Furthermore, the puzzling systematics of the h_{11/2}-excited isomeric states of the N=81 isotones are unraveled using state-of-the-art mean field calculations.

The controlled focusing and transport of ion beams is of paramount importance in particle accelerators, high energy beamlines, and detector systems, as it determines the sensitivity and resolution of the instruments. Therefore, it is essential to model the beam dynamics before the commissioning of new instruments in order to optimise properties such as transmission and energy spread. In this paper, a commercial Plasma Ion Source (PIS), comprised of a heated filament and anode followed by its collimating optics, was modelled using Monte Carlo simulations run with the commercial software SIMION. The simulations were performed for the integration of the source within the existing ion transport optics of TRIUMF's Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear science (TITAN). Optimising the voltage configurations using these simulations proved successful in the commissioning of the PIS operated in surface ionisation mode at the TITAN experiment. A Time-of-Flight (TOF) mass spectroscopy method was developed which allowed for the identification of species ionised by the source. The integration of a flexible ion source into the TITAN experiment will open up new opportunities to perform Isotopic Ratios Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) measurements at TITAN.

Line coincidence photopumping is a process where the electrons of an atomic or molecular species are radiatively excited through the absorption of line emission from another species at a coincident wavelength. There are many instances of line coincidence photopumping in astrophysical sources at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths, with the most famous example being Bowen fluorescence (pumping of O III 303.80 A by He II), but none to our knowledge in X-rays. However, here we report on a scheme where a He-like line of Ne IX at 11.000 A is photopumped by He-like Na X at 11.003 A, which predicts significant intensity enhancement in the Ne IX 82.76 A transition under physical conditions found in solar flare plasmas. A comparison of our theoretical models with published X-ray observations of a solar flare obtained during a rocket flight provides evidence for line enhancement, with the measured degree of enhancement being consistent with that expected from theory, a truly surprising result. Observations of this enhancement during flares on stars other than the Sun would provide a powerful new diagnostic tool for determining the sizes of flare loops in these distant, spatially-unresolved, astronomical sources.