NEW ACCESS TO THE MAGNETIC-MOMENT DISTRIBUTION IN THE NUCLEUS BY LASER SPECTROSCOPY OF HIGHLY-CHARGED IONS

The availability of high intensity, high quality beams of highly charg ed ions has started a new application for laser spectroscopy. High res olution spectroscopy can now be applied to a study of hydrogen-like at omic states in heavy elements. In principal, this will allow a determi nation of the hyperfine splitting with an accuracy in the 10(-6)-range or better. Presently this exceeds the limits given by the uncertainti es of the nuclear quantities, especially the distribution of the nucle ar magnetization in the nucleus. Since the new approach can be applied to a family of test cases, it can provide a wide experimental basis f or the separation of nuclear and QED effects. This is especially true since measurements of the hyperfine splitting have now also been perfo rmed at the Super-EBIT ion trap. For the determination of nuclear para meters it will be of benefit to measure more candidates close to the d oubly magic Pb-208. I, such systems theoretical efforts to clarify det ails of the nuclear structure and of the interaction between the nucle us and the electron can be expected to even surpass the present experi mental accuracy.