Lifetime measurement of the 167.1 keV state in Ar-41
4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table.-- PACS nrs.: 21.10.Tg; 23.40.−s; 27.40.+z. ; The Advanced-Time-Delayed method was used to measure lifetimes of the states in Ar-41 populated in the β decay of Cl-41. The nuclei Cl-41 were produced at ISOLDE by 1.4-GeV proton bombardment of a thick UCx target and mass-separated as molecular ions, XeCl+. Our measured half-life of the 167.1-keV state, T(1/2) = 315(15) ps, is significantly lower than the previously measured value of 410(30) ps. We have also determined T(1/2) = 260(80) ps and T(1/2) ≤ 46 ps for the 515.9- and 1867.7-keV states, respectively. These are the shortest lifetimes measured so far with the ultrafast timing method using the new LaBr3(Ce) crystals for γ-ray detection. ; This work was performed as part of an undergraduate research project (ERW) at the Physics Department of the University of Notre Dame. Fast-timing detectors and electronics were provided by the Fast Timing Pool of Electronics. This study was supported in part by the NSF PHY04-57120, Swedish Research Council, BMBF Grant No. 06KY205I, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (WBW), Foundation for Polish Science (AK), the European Union Sixth Framework through RII3-EURONS (Contract No. 506065), and the EURTD project TARGISOL (HPRI-CT-2001-50033). ; Peer reviewed