Hannover 2013 – scientific programme

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SYMS: Symposium 100 Years of Mass Spectrometry

SYMS 2: 100 Years of Mass Spectrometry 2

SYMS 2.5: Invited Talk

Friday, March 22, 2013, 16:00–16:30, E 415

Resonance ionization mass spectrometry — •Klaus Wendt — Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

The second key issue of elemental mass spectrometry - apart from its overall sensitivity - is the achievable selectivity in respect to any kind of contamination within the sample or ion beam, which defines the significance of results. While the suppression of neighbouring masses is usually high and primarily governed by the resolution of the mass spectrometer in use, isobaric interferences cause the dominant limitation for conventional mass spectrometers.

The implementation of element-specific ion sources which employ resonant excitation processes and subsequent ionization by powerful and properly tuned laser light, has drastically altered this situation. Resonance ionization mass spectrometry adds optical selectivities of many orders of magnitude in respect to isobars and even isotopes of the same element within such a laser ion source to the performance of a well adapted mass spectrometer. Applications focus on the selective production of radioactive ion beams of exotic species at on-line facilities as well as the ultra trace analysis of radioisotopes at lowest concentration levels. The presentation gives an overview of the state of the art of this challenging technique.