Precise half-life measurement of the 26Si ground state

The beta-decay half-life of Si-26 was measured with a relative precision of 1.4 center dot 10(-3). The measurement yields a value of 2.2283(27) s which is in good agreement with previous measurements but has a precision that is better by a factor of 4. In the same experiment, we have also measured the non-analogue branching ratios and could determine the super-allowed one with a precision of 3%. The experiment was done at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyvaskyla where we used the IGISOL technique with the JYFLTRAP facility to separate pure samples of Si-26.