'Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)'
Doi
Abstract
This is the final report of a 3-year project. We have developed a high-efficiency thermal ionization source that provides one to two orders of magnitude improvement in sample utilization efficiency in comparison with the traditional filament-type ion source currently used in thermal ionization mass spectrometry. This improved sample utilization efficiency results in a proportional increase in sample throughput and proportional decrease in analysis time. Coupling this source with a quadrupole mass spectrometer results in an instrument system for high-efficiency actinide analysis and other applications. In addition to its high efficiency, the sample used in this source can be much smaller than that in previous tube-type sources. The compact structure of the cavity makes it more applicable to any type of mass spectrometer and the whole instrument is small and transportable
