- By:
- Galindo-Uribarri, Alfredo ; Liu, Yuan ; Romero, E.; Stracener, Daniel W
- Journal Name:
- Scientific Reports
- Page Number:
- 23432
- Volume:
- 11
- Issue Number:
- 1
- Publication Date:
- December 27, 2023
- View DOI Listing:
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01886-z
Abstract
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.
