Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

High efficiency laser resonance ionization of plutonium

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Johannes Gutenberg Univ., Mainz (Germany)
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Three-step resonance photoionization spectra of plutonium have been studied with Ti:Sapphire lasers for the development of efficient laser ionization schemes for ultra-trace analysis of Pu isotopes by resonance ionization mass spectrometry. We observed eighteen intermediate excited states of even parity in the energy range 35568–36701 cm-1, thirteen of them have not been previously documented, and a larger number of high-lying excited states and autoionizing states of odd-parity between 48238 and 49510 cm-1. Three-color, three-photon ionization schemes via six intermediate states were evaluated under similar ion source operating conditions. This led to a highly efficient three-step scheme with an overall ionization efficiency of 51.1±1.3%, which is an order of magnitude improvement over the previously reported ionization efficiency for Pu.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1836460
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 11; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (45)

Laser resonant ionization of plutonium journal September 1985
Trace detection of plutonium by three-step photoionization with a laser system pumped by a copper vapor laser journal December 1985
Ultratrace analysis and isotope ratio measurements of long-lived radioisotopes by resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) journal January 2004
Resonance ionization mass spectrometry of ion beam sputtered neutrals for element- and isotope-selective analysis of plutonium in micro-particles journal June 2009
Detection of plutonium isotopes at lowest quantities using in-source resonance ionization mass spectrometry journal August 2012
TRIUMF resonant ionization laser ion source: Ga, Al and Be radioactive ion beam development journal July 2006
Resonance ionization spectroscopy in dysprosium: Excitation scheme development and re-determination of the first ionization potential journal December 2016
Highly selective two-step laser ionization schemes for the analysis of actinide mixtures journal March 2020
Influence of the hyperfine structure on plutonium in resonant laser-SNMS journal March 2020
Ultratrace analysis of long-lived radionuclides by resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) journal August 2014
Improved precision and accuracy in quantifying plutonium isotope ratios by RIMS journal September 2015
Trace analysis of radioisotopes by laser spectroscopy and mass spectrometry journal November 2019
A resonance ionization mass spectrometer as an analytical instrument for trace analysis
  • Ruster, W.; Ames, F.; Kluge, H. -J.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 281, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/0168-9002(89)91489-7
journal September 1989
Determination of the first ionization potential of actinide elements by resonance ionization mass spectroscopy journal June 1997
Resonance ionization mass spectrometry for ultratrace analysis of plutonium with a new solid state laser system journal July 2004
CHILI – the Chicago Instrument for Laser Ionization – a new tool for isotope measurements in cosmochemistry journal August 2016
On-line commissioning of the HRIBF resonant ionization laser ion source journal March 2013
A resonant ionization laser ion source at ORNL journal June 2016
High efficiency resonance ionization of thorium journal January 2020
Determination of plutonium and other transuranic elements by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry: A historical perspective and new frontiers in the environmental sciences journal July 2008
Resonance laser ionization spectroscopy of tellurium journal September 2019
Particulate plutonium released from the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns journal November 2020
Detection of plutonium by resonance ionization mass spectrometry journal February 1983
Isotopic analysis of uranium and plutonium mixtures by resonance ionization mass spectrometry journal March 1984
High Useful Yield and Isotopic Analysis of Uranium by Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry journal May 2017
New Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry Scheme for Improved Uranium Analysis journal July 2018
Abundance of live 244Pu in deep-sea reservoirs on Earth points to rarity of actinide nucleosynthesis journal January 2015
Resonant laser–SNMS for spatially resolved and element selective ultra-trace analysis of radionuclides journal January 2018
A high repetition rate solid state laser system for resonance ionization mass spectrometry of actinides
  • Grüning, C.; Erdmann, N.; Huber, G.
  • The ninth international symposium on resonance ionization spectroscopy:New directions and applications, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.57161
conference January 1998
Behavior of plutonium in the environment journal September 2016
Supernova triggers for end-Devonian extinctions journal August 2020
Development of Trace Isotope Analysis using Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry based on Isotope Selection with Doppler Shift of Laser Ablated Atoms journal April 2006
ISOL science at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility journal January 2011
High-resolution laser spectroscopy of long-lived plutonium isotopes journal March 2017
Probing Sizes and Shapes of Nobelium Isotopes by Laser Spectroscopy journal June 2018
Detection of the Lowest-Lying Odd-Parity Atomic Levels in Actinium journal August 2020
Radioisotopes and the History of Nucleosynthesis in the Galaxy journal October 1969
Nuclear Forensic Science: Analysis of Nuclear Material Out of Regulatory Control journal June 2016
Plutonium in the environment - A review. journal January 1980
Ionization potential of neutral atomic plutonium determined by laser spectroscopy journal January 1993
Term analysis of the spectrum of neutral plutonium, Pu i journal January 1986
Recent developments in resonance ionization mass spectrometry for ultra-trace analysis of actinide elements journal July 2019
Measurement of the laser resonance ionization efficiency for lutetium journal July 2019
Low-Level Detection of Actinides by Laser Resonance Photoionization journal May 1988
Fast chemical separations and laser mass spectrometry – tools for nuclear research journal August 2012

Similar Records

Resonant three-Photon Ionization Spectroscopy of Atomic Fe
Journal Article · Sat Nov 30 23:00:00 EST 2013 · Journal of Physics. B, Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics · OSTI ID:1110939

Triple-Resonance Autoionization of Uranium Optimized for Diode Laser Excitation
Journal Article · Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Spectrochimica Acta. Part B, Atomic Spectroscopy · OSTI ID:919695