Ultrasensitive laser isotope analysis in an ion-storage ring

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

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