ISOLDE target and ion source chemistry
- 1 November 2001
- journal article
- Published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH in Radiochimica Acta
- Vol. 89 (11-12) , 749-756
- https://doi.org/10.1524/ract.2001.89.11-12.749
Abstract
For the production of radioactive ion beams by means of the ISOL (isotope separation on-line) method in which the nuclei of interest are stopped in a thick target, chemistry plays a crucial role. It serves to separate the nuclear reaction products in atomic or molecular form from the bulk target and to transfer them efficiently to an ion source. This article gives an overview of ISOLDE radiochemical methods where targets (liquid metals, solid metals, carbides and oxides) and ion sources are optimized with respect to efficiency, speed and chemical selectivity. Rather pure beams of non-metals and volatile metals can be obtained with a temperature-controlled transfer line acting as thermo-chromatograph. For less volatile metals the temperature of the target and ion source units needs to be kept as high as possible, but a selective ion source can be used: positive surface ionization for metals with ionization potentials below about 6 eV and the RILIS (resonance ionization laser ion source) technique for most other metals.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
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- Recent development of high-temperature metal targets for ISOLDENuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 1987