The ISAC facility at TRIUMF is able to produce intense beams of mass-separated radioactive isotopes of the alkali and the rare earth elements with unprecedented intensities. This will allow our laser spectroscopy collaboration to extend the studies of exotic nuclei for these elements further away from the valley of stability into regions so far inaccessible at other facilities, thus allowing a more stringent test of the descriptive and predictive power of global nuclear models. Our effort, which involves groups and researchers from the U.S. (TAMU), Japan (JAERI), and Canada (TRIUMF, McGill and Calgary Universities) is based on collinear laser spectroscopy in a fast beam. In this method, atoms or ions are excited by laser light in collinear geometry. In this way measurements of the optical isotope shift yield the nuclear charge radii and measurements of the hyperfine structure the nuclear moments. The excitation can be done by cw-lasers or alternatively by pulsed lasers without a loss in sensitivity, if bunched radioactive ion beams are available. In its basic version, the resonances of the spectral lines are observed optically at right angles. However, the sensitivity will be increased through modifications using particle or nuclear radiation detection. The progress and the plans of our collaboration will be described.
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