REGLIS3 at S3 for the Production of High Purity Refractory RIBs

International audienceRare Elements in-Gas Laser Ion Source and Spectroscopy at S3 (REGLIS3) is the newset-up currently under construction at the SPIRAL2/GANIL facility for the production ofhigh-intensity radioactive ion beams, preselected by the Super Separator Spectrometer (S3).REGLIS3 will be a source for the production of low-energy, high-purity isotopic and isomericion beams and at the same time a tool for high-precision laser spectroscopy and mass spectrometricmeasurements [1], amongst others. It is based on the ‘In-Gas Laser Ionization andSpectroscopy’ (IGLIS) technique, which has been pioneered at KU Leuven in Belgium. In themost recent variant of this technique, a radioactive ion beam is thermalized and neutralizedin a gas cell. A continuous flow of gas leads the atoms to the exit of the gas cell, where a deLaval nozzle produces a quasi-parallel supersonic gas jet in which the resonant laser ionizationtakes place. The selectively-ionized atoms of interest are then efficiently transported andbunched by a system of segmented Radio-Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) ion guides, acceleratedand mass separated. The low temperature, small velocity spread and low pressure inthe jet, enable the different spectroscopic broadening mechanisms to be significantly reducedin comparison to in-gas-cell laser ionization spectroscopy, where the ionization region wasplaced within the gas cell, rather than in the gas jet [2]. The first on-line demonstration ofthis new technique has been recently performed at the LISOL facility, Louvain La Neuve, Belgium,with 214-215Ac isotopes [3]. A strong improvement in spectral resolution was obtainedcompared to the standard in-gas cell technique. A gain in efficiency and selectivity of about afactor ˜20 was also achieved. With these new results, the selective production of isomer ionscan be investigated. These results and the status of the REGLIS3 setup will be presented atthe conference