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Updated: May 18, 2026

Preparing an Isotopically Pure 229Th Ion Beam for Studies of 229mTh
Published on: May 3, 2019
First measurement of pure electron shakeoff in the β decay of trapped 6He+ ions
C Couratin1, Ph Velten, X Fléchard
1LPC Caen, ENSICAEN, Université de Caen Basse Normandie, CNRS/IN2P3-ENSI, Caen, France.
Abstract:
The electron shakeoff probability of 6Li2+ ions resulting from the β- decay of 6He+ ions has been measured with high precision using a specially designed recoil ion spectrometer. This is the first measurement of a pure electron shakeoff following nuclear β decay, not affected by multielectron processes such as Auger cascades. In this ideal textbook case for the application of the sudden approximation, the experimental ionization probability was found to be P(so)(exp)=0.02339(36) in perfect agreement with simple quantum mechanical calculations.
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