Chemically selective laser ion source of manganese

Ion beams produced by on-line isotope separators are often contaminated by abundantly produced isobars. This significantly complicates, and in a number of cases readers impossible, the realization of physical experiments with such beams. In many cases the purity of the ion beams may be improved on the ionization stage of the isotope separation using a laser resonance ion source. The method of laser resonance ionization of atoms in a hot cavity has been applied for chemically selective production of Mn ion beams at the CERN-ISOEDE Facility. Radiation of pulsed dye lasers and copper vapor lasers provided three-step excitation and ionization of Mn isotopes in the ordinary W surface ionizer, connected to the target container. High values of efficiency and selectivity obtained with the laser ion source made it possible to suppress substantially an admixture of Fe-57 in the Mn-57 ion beam and to perform Mossbauer experiments on implanted impurities in solids.