In-trap decay of Mn-61 and Coulomb excitation of Mn-61/Fe-61

At ISOL (Isotope Separator On-Line) facilities, which utilize thick primary production targets, beams of neutron-rich iron isotopes are difficult to obtain due to the long extraction time of these isotopes out of the target matrix. At REX-ISOLDE, an exploratory experiment was carried out to investigate the possibility of producing a post-accelerated beam of neutron-rich iron isotopes by the in-trap decay of neutron-rich manganese isotopes, which are available at ISOLDE using the Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source (RILIS). This production mechanism was tested for the first time at REX-ISOLDE with an intense and short-lived beam of 61Mn isotopes. In this work, the proof of principle of this method is demonstrated, although the technical details of the trapping process are currently not well understood and are still under investigation. The first physics results on the Coulomb excitation of 61Mn and 61Fe are presented and compared to shell model calculations.