Production of radioactive ion beams with the selective laser ion source at the on-line isotope separator ISOLDE
Dr. Valentin N. Fedosseev (CERN)

The resonance ionisation laser ion source (RILIS) of the ISOLDE on-line isotope separation facility is based on the method of laser step-wise resonance ionisation of atoms in a hot metal cavity. Using the system of dye lasers pumped by copper vapour lasers the ion beams of many different metallic elements have been produced at ISOLDE with an ionization efficiency of up to 27%. The high selectivity of the resonance ionization is an important asset for the study of short-lived nuclides produced in targets bombarded by the proton beam of the CERN Booster accelerator. Radioactive ion beams of Be, Mg, Al, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ag, Cd, In, Sn, Tb, Yb, Tl, Pb and Bi have been generated with the RILIS.

Setting the RILIS laser in the narrow line-width mode provides conditions for a high-resolution study of hyperfine structure and isotopic shifts of atomic lines for short-lived isotopes. The isomer selective ionization of some Cu, Ag and Pb isotopes has been achieved by appropriate tuning of laser wavelengths.