A combination thermal dissociation/electron impact ionization source for RIB generation

The flourishing interest in radioactive ion beams (RIBs) with intensities adequate for astrophysics and nuclear physics research place a premium on targets that will swiftly release trace amounts of short lived radio-nuclei in the presence of bulk quantities of target material and ion sources that have the capability of efficiently ionizing the release products. Because of the low probability of simultaneously dissociating and efficiently ionizing the individual atomic constituents of molecules containing the element of interest with conventional, hot-cathode, electron-impact ion sources, the species of interest is often distributed in several mass channels in the form of molecular sideband beams and, consequently, the intensity is diluted. The authors have conceived an ion source that combines the excellent molecular dissociation properties of a thermal dissociator and the high efficiency characteristics of an electron impact ionization source to address these problems. If the concept proves to be a viable option, the source will be used as a complement to the electron beam plasma ion sources already in use at the HRIBF. The design features and principles of operation of the source are described in this article