Abstract

We propose a novel method for ultrasensitive isotope analysis that combines magnetic mass selection, resonant charge-exchange neutralization, and resonant laser ionization. Our method attains high isotopic abundance selectivity by means of continuous multistage separation of ions stored in a small ring. For the environmentally interesting case of ⁹⁰Sr versus ⁸⁸Sr we estimate that sensitivity better than 10⁻¹⁵ for a throughput of 10¹³ atoms/sec and an efficiency (after the ion source) greater than 10% are readily achievable.

© 1985 Optical Society of America

Resonance-ionization mass spectrometry for high-resolution, mass-resolved spectra of rare isotopes

Charles M. Miller, Rolf Engleman, and Richard A. Keller
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 2(9) 1503-1509 (1985)

Continuous-wave double-resonance ionization mass spectrometry of barium

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J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 2(9) 1542-1546 (1985)

Can nonresonant multiphoton ionization be ultrasensitive?

C. H. Becker and K. T. Gillen
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 2(9) 1438-1443 (1985)

Probing argon–benzene van der Waals molecules and isotopically substituted benzene with laser-ionization mass spectrometry

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J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 2(9) 1589-1593 (1985)

Measurement of the isotope selectivity of the strontium magneto-optical trap by a time-of-flight mass spectrometer

Kwang-Hoon Ko, You-Kyoung Lim, Do-Young Jeong, Hyunmin Park, Taek-Soo Kim, Gwon Lim, and Hyung Ki Cha
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 23(12) 2465-2469 (2006)