First laser ions at an off-line mass separator of the ISAC facility at TRIUMF

For efficient and in particular for selective production of radioactive ion beams at on-line mass separator facilities the technique of resonance ionization laser ion sources (RILIS) has become the most powerful tool. In facilities like ISOLDE at CERN they nowadays represent the most commonly used type of ion source for rare short-lived isotopes, delivering highest suppression of isobaric contaminations. For a first off-line demonstration preparing the development and installation of such a laser ion source at the new ISAC facility at TRIUMF in Vancouver (Canada), an all solid state laser system developed at the University of Mainz (Germany), was transferred and tested there at an off-line test separator. The laser system consists of three tunable titanium:sapphire lasers with a repetition rate of 12 kHz, pulse length of ∼30 ns, up to 2.5 W output power in the infrared to red spectral region and features additional frequency doubling units. With this system first RILIS studies were performed in a number of elements. Here we report on stable isotope measurements in Ca and Ga