1. Technical news:

· FE7 (GPS) is fully operational. By itself it holds 60 kV. However, there have been some sparks during the first tests with ion beams - to be investigated next week.

· Sm beams were the first stable beams guided through GPS this year. RILIS made use of the beam to work on the Sm ionization scheme. All 3 dye lasers were used and saturated the transitions. This increased the ionization of Sm by factor 2-3 compared to surface ionization.

· It is planned to install a compressor to increase air pressure needed for the valves in front of the targets.

· FE6 will have its first beams next week. Later in next week COLLAPS will have the first online run of the year. The target will be installed on Monday or possibly already on Friday. ISCOOL is expected to work in bunched mode.

· REX trap is operational. It successfully provided beams for tests at WITCH.

· EBIS is not under vacuum yet, due to a broken turbo pump.

· It is expected to get the REX Linac under vacuum by Thursday.

· RF tests have been performed for different targets at GPS. Apart from some power losses, which are not critical, the tests were satisfactory.

· RILIS were the first users to experience the new FC system. The feedback is positive. The refresh rate of half a second is convenient and the auto ranging works.

· Tuesday night ISOLDE received the first proton beam from the PSB for test purposes.

· After repair the new tape station is ready to be used.

· A new timing module for proton triggers is being implemented by Pascal and Tim.

· The first weekly schedule (for next week) and details of the first targets are available here.

2. Safety

· The RP group presently suffers from lack of personnel. Please be patient if there are some problems/delays with RP sources or shipments, but also signal them to Magda.

· Soon we will have a 1MBq activated 60Co source at ISOLDE.

· The first safety file (that of ISOLTRAP) has been analyzed by Joao Batista, who made a list of safety checks and documents to be performed and collected.

3. A.O.B:

· One can borrow lead bricks from two pallets placed near MISTRAL under the condition to return them as soon as they are not used.

· ISOLTRAP have a new bachelor student - Jonathan Lommen - from the University of Heidelberg.

4. Seminars:

· Rick Casten (Yale University) presented “Baseball and its physics”. He will also give a series of lectures on nuclear structure in the period 9-12 May. On Thursday May 5 at 11:00 he will give a “Physics Coffee” on “Maps and our View of the World”.

· Next week Michael Bender (Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires de Bordeaux Gradignan) will speak about “The description and role of fluctuations in collective degrees of freedom in mean-field-based models of nuclear structure”. Michael will be available all day Wednesday, May 4 if you would like to discuss with him.

· For more information visit the ISOLDE seminars page.

Minutes by DTY