Beta Decay Half-Life of 84Mo*

The $\beta$-decay half-life $^{84}$Mo governs leakage out of the Zr-Nb cycle, a high temperature rp-process endpoint in x-ray binaries [1]. Treatment of the background and the poor statistics accumulated during the previous half-life measurement leave questions about statistical and systematic errors. We have remeasured the half-life of $^{84}$Mo using a concerted setup of the NSCL $\beta$-Counting System [3] and 16 detectors from the Segmented Germanium Array [4]. We will report the half-life for $^{84}$Mo, deduced using 40 times the previous sample size. The application of the NSCL RF Fragment Separator to remove unwanted isotopes, and hence reduce background for the half-life measurement, will also be discussed. [1] H. Schatz et al., Phys. Rep. 294, 167 {\bf 1998} [2] P. Kienle et al., Prog. Part. Nuc. Phys. 46, 73 {\bf 2001} [3] J. Prisciandaro et al., NIM A 505, 140 {\bf 2003} [4] W. Mueller et al., NIM A 466, 492 {\bf 2001} [5] D. Gorelov et al. PAC {\bf 2005}, Knoxville, TN, May 16-20