Since the early 1990s, Recoil Ion Momentum Spectroscopy is an ideal tool for ion-atom and ion-molecule collisions study. We detail here the development of this experimental technique during the last twenty years, illustrated with some of the most striking results obtained at GANIL (CAEN) and J.R. MacDonald Laboratory (Kansas State University). Recoil Ion Momentum Spectroscopy is also particularly well suited for b-v angular correlation measurements in nuclear b decay. The LPCTrap experiment, installed at GANIL, is based on this technique, coupled to the use of a Paul trap for the radioactive ions confinement. The precise measurements performed with this setup allow both, to test specific aspects of the Standard Model of elementary particles, and to study the electron shakeoff process following b decay.
Recoil Ion Momentum Spectroscopy in Atomic and Nuclear Physics: Applications to low energy ion-atom/molecule collisions and to b-v angular correlation measurements in b decay