Abstract

As originally conceived, resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) combined the elemental selectivity of resonance ionization (1) with the isotopic selectivity of mass spectrometry to improve the accuracy and sensitivity of conventional mass spectrometry (2). For many applications, especially quantitation by isotope dilution (3) , it is important that no isotopic selectivity accompany the resonance ionization process. This condition is easily met for all but a few elements of the periodic table (4), since the great majority of optical isotope shifts are small with respect to typical dye laser bandwidths and Doppler-broadened linewidths in common atom reservoirs. However, another class of problem exists for which it is desirable to achieve isotopically selective resonance ionization. These applications involve the detection of extremely, rare stable or radioactive isotopes in the presence of the major isotopic species of an element. Miller et al. (5) have explored the optical isotopic selectivity of the isotopes of Lu using a RIMS spectrometer equipped with a high-resolution (single-mode) continuous-wave (cw) laser. Cannon et al. (6) have measured an optical selectivity (defined below) of 800 for isotopes of Ba, using a RIMS spectrometer with two cw lasers. We have proposed the use of pulsed, two-photon, Doppler-free resonance ionization to extend the capability of conventional mass spectrometers to measure isotope ratios in excess of 10¹² (7). Initial experimental results using this approach, for the isotopes ⁹Be and ¹⁰Be, are reported here.

© 1987 Optical Society of America