Mass measurements on highly charged radioactive ions, a new approach to high precision with TITAN

TITAN (TRIUMF's Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear science) is a system of multiple ion traps installed at the radioactive ion beam facility ISAC. The uniqueness of the system lies in the combination of different kinds of ion traps nowhere else available, and the coupling of this system to ISAC as a source of the most intense radioactive beams of very exotic nuclei worldwide. ISAC is now been operational for more than 5 years, and has been proven to be able to deliver a broad variety of radioactive species with unsurpassed production yields, making it the facility of choice for a next generation ion trap facility, like TITAN. The physics goals of TITAN are manifold, but the emphasis lies on the test of the Standard Model via the determination of the V-ud CKM matrix element, nuclear structure and halo-nuclei investigations, and nuclear astrophysics by providing precise and accurate mass measurements. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.