1. Technical news:
· There have been technical issues during the GPS run:
· The target and line heating tripped due to a problem with the PLC. All power supplies have been put on manual mode. In the mean time the“controls” expert replaced the PLC. His hypothesis is that the problem has been caused by a spark damaging the PLC. Everything stays in manual mode until the end of running with the current target.
· “Pump 1” powering the ISOLDE-hall cooling water broke. This caused devices depending on cooling water, like the GPS magnet, to trip. The broken unit has been replaced by “Pump 2” (which was successfully tested earlier in the week) and the cooling was restored.
· The dehumidifier of the target area broke. A temporary solution has been provided after intervention. Another intervention will be required in 1-2 weeks.
· When closing the GPS slits, part of the main beam was lost and several neighboring masses (up to +/- 5 masses) were not well suppressed. The situation was investigated and the separator was retuned. Now the mass separation is better and beam los with slits in is much lower.
· Users should be aware that the slits can be controlled only in“one-dimensional mode”. The software button disappears in the “two-dimensional”setting. The slits should be in principle always in and they should not be removed by the users.
· In the mean time the helium controller for ISCOOL was exchanged, but it broke immediately, so the old one was put back in place. It has the issue that it cannot go lower than certain value.
· RILIS successfully ionized astatine (after testing several schemes) and did quick in-source measurements as well.
· In order not to damage cables in Faraday cups and Scanners with the RILIS 50W green beams an interlock has been introduced, so that for instance, the FC20 cups cannot be inserted if RILIS is on.
· RILIS is now switching to Au .
· REX provided stable beam to the b-NMR experiment. Good mass-scalability and transmission is found, up to 90%.
· REX is fighting controls problems, values not properly set, etc.
· Electric breakers for REX rf (which made trouble in April) have been exchanged.
2. Physics and schedule:
· GPS + UC + RILIS provided astatine beams for b-delayed fission studies. 194At and 196At were measured successfully.
· ISOLTRAP is preparing for measurements on n-rich gold.
· Next week ISOLDE will be preparing to provide 72Kr beam to MINIBALL.
· SSP will use a ZrO instead of YO target, due to high contaminant levels.
· The Strasbourg group will come to ISOLDE next week to continue the repair of the fast tape station.
· Extensive cabling work during the long shutdown has to be requested in advance. Please, see Richard’s e-mail entitled “Travaux de câblage à prévoir lors du LS1” which was sent to the group.
3. A.O.B:
· Next week Magda will be replaced by Jan and the following Wednesday-Friday by Karl.
· The ISOLDE newsletter is out.
· Templatesfor ISOLDE posters and presentations are available. You are strongly encouraged to use them.
· It is no longer possible to register for the Ecole Joliot Curie but there are still possibilities for the Euroschool to be held in Athens. Students and young post docs are encouraged to apply.
4. Seminars:
· Dr. Nikolay Minkov (Institute of Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy / Bulgarian Academy of Science) presented “Quadrupole-octupole deformations and high-K isomeric states in heavy nuclei”.
· Due to EURORIB there will be no Group meeting next week (May 23) and consequently no seminar either. The following week there will be a lecture series by Rick Casten on IBA.
Minutes by DTY