U.S. - Germany Cooperative Research: Atomic Structure of Highly Charged Uranium Ions

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

9909930 Livingston This award supports Arthur Livingston and students from the University of Notre Dame in a collaboration with Thomas Stoehlker of the Department of Atomic Physics at the Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany. The project will establish a strong collaborative research program between the accelerator-based atomic physics group at Notre Dame and the heavy-ion atomic physics group. The collaborative effort will combine expertise on both sides in the atomic structure and spectroscopy of highly-charged uranium ions. The research will involve the implementation of a new, energy-sensitive charge-coupled device detector system in the heavy ion storage ring at GSI. The primary goal is to measure the energy of the 1s2s ground state 1s2p first excited state transition in helium-like uranium (U90+). For the first time, highly precise measurements will allow a test of uncalculated quantum electrodynamics terms in highly charged helium-like atoms. The results will also be useful for many other species of ion.