1. Technical news:
· The robot for handling the GPS targets had to be restarted on Monday after not responding to any commands.
· The target heating on GPS was recovered after a PLC problem. The target installed is a standard UC target, to be used for laser spectroscopy on the n-rich Cd isotopes, ionized by RILIS.
· HRS HV power supply (HT2) developed a problem and broke during the MINIBALL run . Jan Schipper exchanged it to the GPS power supply (HT1). Temporarily there is a spare power supply connected to GPS, but on Thursday GPS will be reconnected to HT1 for the laser spectroscopy run which requires a well calibrated HV.
· A UC target with a quartz transfer line and a neutron converter provided good yields during most of the MINIBALL run and a relatively clean beam. Therefore, use of the n-converter was not necessary. However, the target developed a vacuum leak on the 10-5mbar level and the experiment continued under these conditions.
· RILIS report a considerable improvement in the ionization efficiency of Cd.
· The GPS target change caused a drop in the pressure of the cooling water which caused a trip in the HRS target heating. A solution to avoid such problems in the future will be soon implemented.
· REX experienced problems due to a broken RF amplifier. There were also sparks in the REX-trap and several vacuum interruptions. REX rfq experienced problems due to overheating.
· A logging system of the state of the ISOLDE vacuum (valves and pressure) and beamline power supplies will be introduced next week. A graphical interface will follow in the coming months.
2.Physics and schedule
· GPS: Successful measurements on 196At continued in the evenings, improving the statistics of fission evens from the preceding experiment. During the nights, surface ionized Tl was investigated with the same setup.
· GPS:RILIS continued looking for auto-ionizing states in At. So far, none were found.
· HRS: MINIBALL successfully studied the COULEX of 128Cd and will attempt as a bonus a lifetime measurement (DSAM) of the first excited state of 126Cd
· GPS: COLLAPS will perform this weekend laser spectroscopy on n-rich Cd isotopes
· GPS: ISOLTRAP will take over on Monday with mass measurements on n-rich Fr isotopes
· GPS: during REX setup later next week, RILIS will continue scanning atomic transitions in At
3.A.O.B.
· The transfer of the SSP lab from b.275 to b.115 is being prepared. The target test-bench facility will be moved out to bat 3. Currently there is a search for an alternative storage place for ISOLDE experiments, which will allow using bat. 275 as an office building.
4. Seminars:
· Takayuki Yamaguchi (Saitama University) presented "Nuclear matter radii of unstable nuclei ".
· The summer student presentations will start on August 17. There will be 2 or 3 presentations (12 minutes + 5 min questions) at each group meeting until mid-September. ISOLDE summer students are also encouraged to present a poster at the CERN-wide poster session next Wednesday, August 10.
· For more information and links to the slides please visit the ISOLDE - seminars page.
Minutes by DTY