Experimental study of the beta-delayed neutron decay of N-21

The first spectroscopic study for the beta decay of N-21 is carried out based on beta-n, beta-gamma, and beta-n-gamma coincidence measurements. The neutron-rich N-21 nuclei are produced by the fragmentation of the E/A=68.8 MeV Mg-26 primary beam on a thick Be-9 target and are implanted into a thin plastic scintillator that also plays the role of beta detector. The time of flight of the emitted neutrons following the beta decay are measured by the surrounding neutron sphere and neutron wall arrays. In addition, four clover germanium detectors are used to detect the beta-delayed gamma rays. Thirteen new beta-delayed neutron groups are observed with a total branching ratio of 90.5 +/- 4.2%. The half-life for the beta decay of N-21 is determined to be 82.9 +/- 7.5 ms. The level scheme of O-21 is deduced up to about 9 MeV excitation energy. The experimental results for the beta decay of N-21 are compared to the shell-model calculations.

The beta decay of N-21

The beta-delayed neutron and gamma energy spectra taken from the decay of neutron-rich nucleus N-21 were measured by using the beta - gamma and beta - n coincidence detection method. Thirteen new neutron groups ranging from 0.28MeV to 4.98 MeV and with a total branching ratio of 88.7 +/- 4.2% were observed and presented. One gamma transition with an energy of 1222 keV emitted from the excited state of O-21, and four gamma transitions with energies of 1674, 2397, 2780, and 3175 keV emitted from the excited states of O-20 were identified in the 3 decay chain of N-21. The beta decay half-life for N-21 is determined to be 82.9 +/- 1.9 ms. The uncertainty of half-life is much smaller than the previous result.

Properties of the beta-Delayed Proton Decay of Er-147

The beta-delayed proton decay of Er-147 is studied experimentally using the Ni-58+Mo-92 reaction at a beam energy of 383 MeV. Based on a He-jet apparatus coupled with a tape transport system, the beta-delayed proton radioactivities both from the nu s(1/2) ground state and the nu h(11/2) isomer in Er-147 are identified by proton-gamma coincidence measurements. By analyzing the time distribution of the 4(+) -> 2(+) gamma transition in the grand-daughter nucleus Dy-146, a half-life of 1.6 +/- 0.2 s is determined for the nu h(11/2) isomer in Er-147. The half-life for the ground state of Er-147 is estimated to be 3.2 +/- 1.2 s.

Decay of Cystalline Order and Equilibration during the Solid-to-Plasma Transition Induced by 20-fs Microfocused 92-eV Free-Electron-Laser Pulses

We have studied a solid-to-plasma transition by irradiating Al foils with the FLASH free electron laser at intensities up to 10(16) W/cm(2). Intense XUV self-emission shows spectral features that are consistent with emission from regions of high density, which go beyond single inner-shell photoionization of solids. Characteristic features of intrashell transitions allowed us to identify Auger heating of the electrons in the conduction band occurring immediately after the absorption of the XUV laser energy as the dominant mechanism. A simple model of a multicharge state inverse Auger effect is proposed to explain the target emission when the conduction band at solid density becomes more atomiclike as energy is transferred from the electrons to the ions. This allows one to determine, independent of plasma simulations, the electron temperature and density just after the decay of crystalline order and to characterize the early time evolution.

Ultrafast Non-Radiative Decay of Gas-Phase Nucleosides

The ultrafast photo-physical properties of DNA are crucial in providing a stable basis for life. Although the DNA bases efficiently absorb ultraviolet (UV) radiation, this energy can be dissipated to the surrounding environment by the rapid conversion of electronic energy to vibrational energy within about a picosecond. The intrinsic nature of this internal conversion process has previously been demonstrated through gas phase experiments on the bases, supported by theoretical calculations. De-excitation rates appear to be accelerated when individual bases are hydrogen bonded to solvent molecules or their complementary Watson-Crick pair. In this paper, the first gas-phase measurements of electronic relaxation in DNA nucleosides following UV excitation are reported. Using a pump-probe ionization scheme, the lifetimes for internal conversion to the ground state following excitation at 267 nm are found to be reduced by around a factor of two for adenosine, cytidine and thymidine compared with the isolated bases. These results are discussed in terms of a recent proposition that a charge transfer state provides an additional internal conversion pathway mediated by proton transfer through a sugar to base hydrogen bond.

Double-autoionization decay of resonantly excited single-electron states

Perturbation theory in the lowest non-vanishing order in interelectron interaction has been applied to the theoretical investigation of double-ionization decays of resonantly excited single-electron states. The formulae for the transition probabilities were derived in the LS coupling scheme, and the orbital angular momentum and spin selection rules were obtained. In addition to the formulae, which are exact in this order, three approximate expressions, which correspond to illustrative model mechanisms of the transition, were derived as limiting cases of the exact ones. Numerical results were obtained for the decay of the resonantly excited Kr 1 3d^{-1}5p[^1P] state which demonstrated quite clearly the important role of the interelectron interaction in double-ionization processes. On the other hand, the results obtained show that low-energy electrons can appear in the photoelectron spectrum below the ionization threshold of the 3d shell. As a function of the photon frequency, the yield of these low-energy electrons is strongly amplified by the resonant transition of the 3d electron to 5p (or to other discrete levels), acting as an intermediate state, when the photon frequency approaches that of the transition.