6533b7defe1ef96bd127655d

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Fast, low-level detection of strontium-90 and strontium-89 in environmental samples by collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy

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Environmental assessment in the wake of a nuclear accident requires the rapid determination of the radiotoxic isotopes 89Sr and 90Sr. Useful measurements must be able to detect 108 atoms in the presence of about 1018 atoms of the stable, naturally occurring isotopes. This paper describes a new approach to this problem using resonance ionization spectroscopy in collinear geometry, combined with classical mass separation. After collection and chemical separation, the strontium from a sample is surface-ionized and the ions are accelerated to an energy of about 30 keV. Initially, a magnetic mass separator provides an isotopic selectivity of about 106. The ions are then neutralized by charge exchange and the resulting fast strontium atoms are selectively excited into high-lying atomic Rydberg states by narrow-band cw laser light in collinear geometry. The Rydberg atoms are then field-ionized and detected. Thus far, a total isotopic selectivity of S > 1010 and an overall efficiency of ξ = 5 × 10−6 have been achieved. The desired detection limit of 108 atoms 90Sr has been demonstrated with synthetic samples.