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Abstract

Over three and a half decades of collinear laser spectroscopy and the COLLAPS setup have played a major role in the ISOLDE physics programme. Based on a general experimental principle and diverse approaches towards higher sensitivity, it has provided unique access to basic nuclear properties such as spins, magnetic moments and electric quadrupole moments as well as isotopic variations of nuclear mean square charge radii. While previous methods of outstanding sensitivity were restricted to selected chemical elements with special atomic properties or nuclear decay modes, recent developments have yielded a breakthrough in sensitivity for nuclides in wide mass ranges. These developments include the use of bunched beams from the radiofrequency quadrupole cooler–buncher ISCOOL, which allows a suppression of background by several orders of magnitude. Very recently, the combination of collinear laser spectroscopy with the principle of laser resonance ionisation took shape in the new CRIS setup, providing a very selective and efficient detection of optical resonance. We outline the basic experimental developments and discuss important results on nuclei or chains of isotopes in different mass ranges.