1. Technical news:
· HRS runs with Miniball were running rather smoothly. Only Na run didn’t have enough yield.
· The GPS target does not hold 50kV. It is possible that the extraction electrode has been polluted by the use of a molten metal target and plasma ion sources in the previous runs. In such cases moving the extraction electrode very close to the heated target may help to remove the pollution and to recover the high voltage, but it hasn’t worked this time. The users currently stay with 30kV. The lower beam energy would however prevent the Mössbauer experiments scheduled for next week from running. The possibility of the Boris tube being the source of the problem should be considered as well. The one of GPS is known to be in poor condition and caused a lot of problems in 2009.
· On Tuesday there was a vacuum alert which caused instantaneous shutting down of the GPS target by the safety interlock system. Fortunately the target survived and the yields seem to be consistent with the expected values. The problem was not fully understood. The most-likely explanation is related to the new PVSS vacuum-control system. It is possible that during routine tests at COLLAPS the PVSS opened the valve to ISOLDE when it recognized good vacuum at the experiment, following a command given by unknown user, perhaps days or even weeks earlier. An investigation is ongoing. Make sure when working on your experiments to verify the status of your valve to ISOLDE every time the vacuum conditions change. For the moment the PVSS control of the valve to COLLAPS has been disabled, by disconnecting the cable.
· GPS.FC490 is not working.
2. News from experiments:
· The runs on lead and rubidium at MINIBALL worked well. The run on sodium was unsuccessful, due to the low yield of 30Na.
· Successful tests at GLM have been performed related to the future bio-physics program at ISOLDE.
· Fast-timing measurements on n-rich manganese isotopes are currently taking place at GPS.
3. A.O.B:
· The midterm plan presented in June to the CERN council was not approved. The revised version favors HIE-ISOLDE as the funding is kept essentially as planned, but delayed by approximately half a year. The possibility of having no proton beam at CERN in 2012 is being considered.
4. Summer-student presentations:
· Marek Wajs presented his work dedicated to bio-physics and ISOLTRAP using the SIMION and IONCOOL software packages.
· Daniel Saaf presented results from recent tests of a sophisticated vacuum system meant for the purposes of the bio-physics with beta-NMR.
Minutes by DTY