Production study of Fr, Ra and Ac radioactive ion beams at ISOLDE, CERN.

The presented paper discusses the production of radioactive ion beams of francium, radium, and actinium from thick uranium carbide (UC ) targets at ISOLDE, CERN. This study focuses on the release curves and extractable yields of francium, radium and actinium isotopes. The ion source temperature was varied in order to study the relative contributions of surface and laser ionization to the production of the actinium ion beams.

Half-life determination of At and Ra with high-purity radioactive ion beams.

At CERN-ISOLDE, high-purity radioactive ion beams of Fr and RaF were investigated with α-decay spectroscopy at the CRIS and ASET experiments in the course of three different experimental campaigns. The half-life of At, α-decay daughter of Fr, is measured to be 36.3(3)[9]μs, and that of Ra was determined to be 26.