Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Redshaw, Matthew
Author's Email Address	redshaw@nucmar.physics.fsu.edu
URN	etd-11132007-174930
Title	Precise Measurements of the Atomic Masses of 28Si, 31P, 32S, 84,86Kr, 129,132,136Xe, and the Dipole Moment of PH+ using Single-Ion and Two-Ion Penning Trap Techniques
Degree	Doctor of Philosophy
Department	Physics, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Kirby W. Kemper Committee Chair Edmund G. Myers Committee Co-Chair Alan G. Marshall Committee Member Howard A. Baer Committee Member Paul D. Cottle Committee Member
Keywords	Precision Measurement Dipole Moment Atomic Mass Mass Spectrometry Penning Traps Ion Cyclotron Resonance
Date of Defense	2007-10-31
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract This dissertation describes high precision measurements of atomic masses by measuring the cyclotron frequency of ions trapped singly, or in pairs, in a precision, cryogenic Penning trap. By building on techniques developed at MIT for measuring the cyclotron frequency of single trapped ions, the atomic masses of 84,86Kr, and 129,132,136Xe have been measured to less than a part in 1010 fractional precision. By developing a new technique for measuring the cyclotron frequency ratio of a pair of simultaneously trapped ions, the atomic masses of 28Si, 31P and 32S have been measured to 2 or 3 parts in 1011. This new technique has also been used to measure the dipole moment of PH+. During the course of these measurements, two significant, but previously unsuspected sources of systematic error were discovered, characterized and eliminated. Extensive tests for other sources of systematic error were performed and are described in detail. The mass measurements presented here provide a significant increase in precision over previous values for these masses, by factors of 3 to 700. The results have a broad range of physics applications: The mass of 136Xe is important for searches for neutrinoless double-beta-decay; the mass of 28Si is relevant to the re-definition of the artifact kilogram in terms of an atomic mass standard; the masses of 84,86Kr, and 129,132,136Xe provide convenient reference masses for less precise mass spectrometers in diverse fields such as nuclear physics and chemistry; and the dipole moment of PH+ provides a test of molecular structure calculations.
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