1. Technical news:

· A number of SSP experiments are taking place at GPS since last week, most of the time in proton sharing mode with other experiments (COLLAPS, MINIBALL). There have been some technical issues as follows:

- The target lost heating twice. As reported in the last minutes the first time it had to do with the PLC, which since then has been put in local mode. The second power drop is not yet understood. The target survived and performed well during the runs.

- The proton scan needed to be redone for reasons that are not completely understood (most probably due to the different proton settings after the 2-day proton stop). Stable conditions since then are reported by the users.

- The GLM deflector plates stopped responding during the SSP runs. Fortunately they are not in a position blocking the beam to CA0. The experienced users improvised a combined setting of GLM and GHM which allowed them to continue with the measurements despite the problem. An intervention for repairs is foreseen for Tuesday next week.

· The HT power supplies have been tested. ASTEC 1 is operational at GPS. ASTEC 2 is for a repair with the HT group (Jan Schipper). Currently it is being replaced by ASTEC3 that is limited to 40kV, but was found to perform within the 40kV limit as well as the other ASTECS.

· While SSP was taking place at GPS, on HRS COLLAPS worked on ⁵¹K last week followed by MINIBALL doing Coulex of ⁹⁸Sr this week.

· An issue related to the air conditioning of ISOLDE was reported by users. In particular high temperature and humidity can be disturbing for electronics. The responsible group was contacted. Their feedback relates the problem to the hall extension due to which the existing system often cannot cope with the summer conditions. This situation will remain until the upgrades of HIE-ISOLDE. High temperature and humidity in the last 2 weeks were reported to be caused by an air inlet closed manually during the hot days.

· All services at ISOLDE (cooling water, etc.) will remain available for 2 weeks after the shutdown, making possible offline work in that period - weeks 47 and 48.

· Cooling water will be off in the period 6 Dec until 27 Feb.

· The ventilation system will be under maintenance between 2-10 Dec. Avoid venting vacuum chambers during this period.

· Protons will be available next year from March 26. The “cold checkout” will start on March 12 and the first physics run might be scheduled already on 1 Apr, which as Magda assured us is not a joke.

2.Physics and schedule

· The SSP users reported a successful outcome of the multiple experiments being run at GPS since last week. Online emission channeling, Mossbauer spectroscopy, and diffusion studies were performed on Mn isotopes. ⁸³Rb collections for KATHRIN are following.

· COLLAPS communicated a positive outcome from the ⁵¹K, but made clear that due to the technical stop and the proton sharing the number of approved shifts has not been made available for the measurement. Magda agrees that if off-line analysis shows that more statistics is required the shifts will not be counted and the experiment can be rescheduled.

· A serious concern was expressed about the proton-sharing between users with equal priority. It is the general understanding that if an experiment is granted a certain amount of shifts, those are assumed under the condition of using the full proton beam for ISOLDE, unless requested otherwise.

3.A.O.B.

· Please consider the ISOLDE workshop. We are encouraged to submit abstracts by 2 Oct.

· The approved funding for ISOLDE experiments has been published in the last meeting’s minutes. Please, proceed with the purchases as soon as possible as the funds have to be spent before the end of the year.

· There will be no PGM meeting next week due to the absence of Yorick and Magda.

· Proposals will be accepted in the next 2 INTC meetings (for details, see ISOLDE News Section). The schedule will be prepared in 3 parts and proposals from February will be considered for the 2 later parts.

4. Seminars:

Three summer-student presentations took place:

· Anna Bakenecker (WITCH, supervisor Martin) presented: “Off-line ion source for ⁴⁰Ar+”.

· Marta Dias (medical physics, supervisors Tim and Thierry) presented: “Radioisotopes in medicine”.

· Shigeki Hirose (Solid State, supervisor Karl) presented: “Summary of work on diffusion chamber and PL spectroscopy”.

· Piet Van Duppen (Inst. voor Kern- en Stralingsfysica, KULeuven) wil give a series of lectures on “Shape coexistence in the lead region investigated using a multitude of experimental probes”. This will be happening in the period 19-21 September.

· For more information and links to the slides please visit the ISOLDE - seminars page.

Minutes by DTY