1. Technical news:

· The HRS target change has been done.

· After the target change beam tuning through REX took place. Afterwards MINIBALL performed tests for the upcoming experiment on zinc.

· On Thursday night last week (in between the daily setup of REX) COLLAPS took potassium beam to perform tests of a new optical detection region meant for the upcoming experiment on radioactive potassium. The tests were successful.

· In the meantime RILIS has been setup for zinc and the online experiment is currently ongoing at MINIBALL and will continue until Monday morning. The feedback from the users is generally positive, apart from some background effects that need to be understood.

· The tape station will acquire new parts in order to measure shorter-lived species.

· A higher-density uranium carbide material will be tested this week. Unfortunately, for safety reasons the proton intensity will be limited to 0.7 mA. It is expected that the production of radioactive species will scale with the density, but the concern is that the release time will increase. The tests are expected to give a conclusive answer of that and other questions.

2. A.O.B:

· Some important points for the operation of ISOLDE in the near future have been discussed on a meeting between Sergio Bertolucci, Philippe Bloch and Yorick Blumenfeld. The possibility for continuing operation throughout 2012 has been indicated with possible shutdown of the CERN accelerator complex in 2013. It may be possible to use stable or long-lived beams during the shutdown (still to be requested and discussed). It has been pointed out that building 275 is underutilized. In order to use it more efficiently it has been suggested that the solid-state physics lab could be moved to building 115. This would bring safety advantages as radioactive samples would not need to leave the ISOLDE protected area. Furthermore, there is some funding available at CERN for optimization of space and safety that could be available in case of transfer between the two buildings. Concerning the material storage in 275 no recommendation has been given.

· There is a visit from the Swedish Royal Academy of Science on Nov 10. Improving order in the experimental hall is advised.

· Please, note the program of the ISOLDE workshop.

3. Seminars

· Kieran Flanagan (Manchester University) presented “CRIS: collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy physics and progress at ISOLDE”.

Minutes by DTY