Precise atomic mass measurements are very important in many disciplines of science, e.g. in physics, biochemistry, medicine, archaeology and environmental research. In nuclear physics, mass measurements of nuclides are essential for testing nuclear mass models. From the knowledge of the mass of a nuclide the nuclear binding energy can be derived. The mass measurements provide a better knowledge of the strong interaction between the constituents in the nucleus. In nuclear astrophysics, mass measurements of exotic nuclides are of great importance for our understanding of the synthesis of the elements. In biochemistry and medicine, mass measurement methods are helpful in a structural analysis of complex biomolecules. Mass measurement techniques are widely used in the trace analysis of poisonous substances in environmental research. Leak searchers and rest gas analysers are also based on the principles of mass measurements.
The most precise methods of mass measurements, employed in nuclear physics, are based either on the determination of the time of flight (TOF), the revolution frequency (RF), or cyclotron frequency (CF) of the ion in mass spectrometers. Nowadays, there are several scientific centers such as GSI, CERN, GANIL and ANL employing these techniques. The RF-technique is realized at GSI in the Experimental Storage Ring (ESR) [Fra87] (Schottky Mass Spectrometry SMS and Isochronous Mass Spectrometry IMS) for ions produced in the in-flight FRagment Separator (FRS) [Gei92]. At GANIL, the TOF-technique is employed at the Second Separated-Sector Cyclotron (CSS2) and at the Spectrométre á Perte d Energie du Ganil (SPEG) [Bia89,Aug94]. The CF-technique is implemented in MISTRAL [Lun01] and in Penning traps ISOLTRAP [Bol87, Her03] at ISOLDE (CERN). The CF- technique is also used at SHIPTRAP [Dil01,Sik03] at GSI and at the Canadian Penning Trap (CPT), coupled to the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerating System (ATLAS) at ANL [Sav01]. In the following diagram 1, the relative accuracy of mass determination achieved by the above mentioned techniques and typical half-lives reached by each method are presented.
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