Penning trap mass measurements on nobelium isotopes

The Penning trap mass spectrometer SHIPTRAP at GSI Darmstadt allows accurate mass measurements of radionuclides, produced in fusion-evaporation reactions and separated by the velocity filter SHIP from the primary beam. Recently, the masses of the three nobelium isotopes {sup 252-254}No were determined. These are the first direct mass measurements of transuranium elements, which provide new anchor points in this region. The heavy nuclides were produced in cold-fusion reactions by irradiating a PbS target with a {sup 48}Ca beam, resulting in production rates of the nuclei of interest of about one atom per second. In combination with data from decay spectroscopy our results are used to perform a new atomic-mass evaluation in this region.