“Decay studies of exotic nuclei produced using laser ionization”

This PhD project focusses on decay spectroscopy studies of extremely pure samples of radioactive isotopes produced using laser ionization with the aim to test and improve nuclear models or to observe for the first time the radiative decay of an extremely low-lying nuclear isomer in Th-229. The experimental campaigns will take place at ISOLDE – CERN using, depending of the physics case, the ISOLDE Decay Station detector system or a tailored detection set-up for VUV spectrometry. Two regions in the nuclear mass chart will be investigated: the n-rich zinc region around the N=50 neutron shell closure and the heavy actinide region.