A new ion source for fission-yield measurements of rare-earth isotopes

A new integrated target-ion source for fission-yield measurements of rare-earth isotopes has been developed for the Soreq on-line isotope separator (SOLIS). The source is heated by electron bombardment to a temperature of 24000C and ionization takes place in a rhenium hot cavity. To overcome the problem of impurities which reduce the ionization efficiency, a ZrC disk was inserted in the cavity. Calculations show that because of its high thermionic emission, ZrC enhances ionization performance considerably. For example, in the presence of 10/sup -5/ mbar of cesium impurity, the ionization efficiency of a rhenium hot cavity for the rare-earth terbium is 6%. However, with a ZrC disk, the efficiency increases to 97%