Basic studies of a gas-jet-coupled ion source for on-line isotope separation

Abstract

A hollow-cathode ion source was used in a gas-jet-coupled configuration to produce ion beams of fission products transported to it from a /sup 252/Cf fission source. Solid aerosols of NaCl and Ag were used effectively as activity carriers in the gas-jet system. Flat-plate skimmers provided an effective coupling of the ion source to the gas jet. Ge(Li) spectrometric measurements of the activity deposited on an ion-beam collector relative to that deposited on a pre-skimmer collector were used to obtain separation efficiencies ranging from 0.1% to > 1% for Sr, Y, Tc, Te, Cs, Ba, Ce, Pr, Nd and Sm. The use of CCl/sub 4/ as a support gas resulted in a significant enhancement of the alkaline-earth and rare-earth separation efficiencies