Preparation of stable and long-lived source samples for the stand-alone beam program at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams

Katharina A Domnanich; Samridhi Satija; Vladyslav S Bodnar; Georg Bollen; Chloe R Kleinfeldt; Yuan Liu; Sierra Rogers; Stefan Schwarz; Gregory W Severin; Chandana Sumithrarachchi; Antonio C C Villari

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110958

Preparation of stable and long-lived source samples for the stand-alone beam program at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams

Appl Radiat Isot. 2023 Oct:200:110958. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110958. Epub 2023 Jul 22.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, 578 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA; Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 640 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA. Electronic address: domnanic@frib.msu.edu.
² Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, 578 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA; Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 640 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA. Electronic address: satija@frib.msu.edu.
³ Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, 578 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA; Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 640 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA. Electronic address: bodnarvl@msu.edu.
⁴ Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 640 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA. Electronic address: bollen@frib.msu.edu.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, 578 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA; Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 640 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA. Electronic address: kleinfe3@msu.edu.
⁶ Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 640 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA. Electronic address: lyuan0101@gmail.com.
⁷ Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 640 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA. Electronic address: garrets@frib.msu.edu.
⁸ Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 640 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA. Electronic address: schwarz@frib.msu.edu.
⁹ Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, 578 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA; Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 640 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA. Electronic address: severin@frib.msu.edu.
¹⁰ Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 640 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA. Electronic address: Chandana@frib.msu.edu.
¹¹ Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 640 S Shaw Ln, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA. Electronic address: villari@frib.msu.edu.

PMID: 37506481
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110958

Abstract

At the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), an oven-ion source combination was used to create rare isotope beams in support of the stand-alone user beam program of the ReAccelerator (ReA) facility. This ion source, called Batch-Mode Ion Source (BMIS), was loaded with enriched stable nuclides (³⁰Si, ⁵⁰Cr, and ⁵⁸Fe) and long-lived radionuclides (²⁶Al, ³²Si). The introduced samples, herein designated as source samples, were thermally volatilized in the BMIS oven, and then ionization was used to generate the required beams. Owing to the different chemical behavior of the used samples, it was important to tailor the sample loading process for each desired beam species. An important parameter here is the volatility of the introduced species, which influences the adequate release of the isotope of interest. Additionally, any co-present, volatile components will affect the ion yields of the desired isotope, while isobaric contaminants will decrease the beam purity. To manufacture isotope source samples that meet these characteristics, various chemical methodologies were developed. All prepared samples were successfully used in BMIS to deliver beams for various user beam experiments. The here-established sample preparation techniques will greatly aid future efforts in developing offline rare-isotope beams.

Keywords: Batch-mode ion source (BMIS); FRIB; Ion exchange chromatography; Offline beam program; Source sample.