Speaker
Description
Exploring the limits of nuclear existence is at the forefront of contemporary nuclear physics. At the GSI in Darmstadt, we have explored the limit in the region of superheavy nuclei for more than 50 years resulting in the discovery of six new elements, for example. Recently, the program has been expanded towards a comprehensive investigation of the atomic, nuclear, and chemical properties of the heaviest elements. Pioneering experiments in Penning-trap mass spectrometry and resonance ionization laser spectroscopy have provided a wealth of new data for the elements from fermium to dubnium. Accurate mass measurements allowed us to investigate the nuclear shell structure evolution in the region of the N=152 deformed shell gap. The high mass resolving power of SHIPTRAP also enabled studies on longer-lived nuclear isomers with low excitation energy in nobelium, lawrencium, and rutherfordium isotopes. Furthermore, changes in nuclear charge radii in a long chain of fermium isotopes were inferred from isotope-shift measurements by laser spectroscopy, while hyperfine laser spectroscopy provided information on electromagnetic moments in nobelium isotopes. I will present select highlights of the recent measurement campaigns at the GSI in Darmstadt, Germany, using the SHIPTRAP, RADRIS, and JetRIS setups and discuss future perspectives.
