Eur. Phys. J. A (2015) 51: 136
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2015-15136-6

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Low-energy Coulomb excitation of ⁶²Fe and ⁶²Mn following in-beam decay of ⁶²Mn

¹ Instituut voor Kern- en Stralingsfysica, KU Leuven, 3001, Leuven, Belgium
² CERN-ISOLDE, CERN, CH-1211, Geneva 23, Switzerland
³ GANIL CEA/DSM-CNRS/IN2P3, Boulevard H. Becquerel, F-14076, Caen, France
⁴ Physics Department E12, Technische Universität München, D-85748, Garching, Germany
⁵ Institut für Kernphysik, Universität zu Köln, 50937, Köln, Germany
⁶ Physics Department, University of Lund, Box 118, SE-221 00, Lund, Sweden
⁷ Department of Physics, University of Jyvaskyla, FI-40014, Jyvaskyla, Finland
⁸ Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCK•CEN, Boeretang 200, B-2400, Mol, Belgium
⁹ Institut für Kernphysik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, D-64289, Darmstadt, Germany
¹⁰ Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität-München, Schellingstraße 4, 80799, München, Germany
¹¹ Heavy Ion Laboratory, University of Warsaw, PL-00-681, Warsaw, Poland

^* e-mail: Liam.Gaffney@uws.ac.uk

Received: 23 June 2015
Revised: 23 September 2015
Accepted: 6 October 2015
Published online: 30 October 2015

Abstract

Sub-barrier Coulomb excitation was performed on a mixed beam of ⁶²Mn and ⁶²Fe, following in-trap β ⁻ decay of ⁶²Mn at REX-ISOLDE, CERN. The trapping and charge breeding times were varied in order to alter the composition of the beam, which was measured by means of an ionisation chamber at the zero-angle position of the Miniball array. A new transition was observed at 418 keV, which has been tentatively associated to a (2⁺,3⁺)→ 1 _g.s. ⁺ transition. This fixes the relative positions of the β-decaying 4⁺ and 1⁺ states in ⁶²Mn for the first time. Population of the 2 ₁ ⁺ state was observed in ⁶²Fe and the cross-section determined by normalisation to the ¹⁰⁹Ag target excitation, confirming the B(E2) value measured in recoil-distance lifetime experiments.