Ionization potential of radioactive element astatine
measured
The radioactive element astatine, the name of which is
derived from the Greek word for 'instability,' is so rare on earth that it has
not yet been investigated to any greater extent and, as a consequence, very
little is known about it. Using artificially generated astatine, the
Mainz-based physicist Sebastian Rothe has now managed for the first time to
experimentally explore one of its fundamental parameters, the ionization
potential, and thus determine one of the most important properties of the rare
element. The ionization potential is the binding energy, i.e., the amount of
energy required to remove an electron from an atom's outer shell. It determines
the entire chemical binding characteristics of that element. The measurements
were undertaken at the laboratory of the CERN European Organization for Nuclear
Research near Geneva using special lasers developed by the LARISSA working
group at the Institute of Physics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU).
The online journal Nature Communications recently published the findings.