Study of laser interaction with negative ions

D. Berkovits, E. Boaretto, G. Hollos, W. Kutschera, R. Naaman, M. Paul, Z. Vager

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Negative ions can be neutralized by detaching their additional electron through interaction with a laser beam. By properly choosing the laser wavelength, the process is highly selective; it can in principle enhance the discrimination power of an accelerator mass spectrometry system for ions of different elements (e.g. isobaric background) by allowing their separation prior to their injection into a tandem accelerator. We demonstrate this process in the case of the 59Ni- 59Co pair with the AMS system based on the Rehovot 14UD Pelletron accelerator and a pulsed Nd-YAG laser at the fundamental wavelength (1064 nm). A photodetachment cross section of (0.6 ± 0.3) × 10-17 cm2 was measured for 59Co- and a suppression factor of 125 for the 59Co isobaric background was achieved in a 59Ni AMS measurement. The duty factor due to the pulsed laser was about 10-4. The laser-AMS system was also applied to the study of rare negative ions in the actinide region. Preliminary results on the laser interaction with uranium negative ions are reported.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)378-383
Number of pages6
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
Volume52
Issue number3-4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2 Dec 1990
Externally publishedYes

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