Isotope ratio measurements of the actinide elements provide essential information for nuclear detonation forensics and proliferation detection. Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry (RIMS) is a high-sensitivity, elementally selective, laser-based form of mass spectrometry that offers the potential to determine the isotopic composition of materials without sample preparation. Due to the elementally selective approach of RIMS, basic research questions of atomic spectroscopy and the probability for producing neutral atoms in the gas phase, must be studied element by element. The studies carried out in this work represent basic research into the application and optimization of RIMS to the analysis of post-detonation debris
