Radioisotope Detection with the Argonne FN Tandem Accelerator

Abstract

A standard heavy ion nuclear structure facility has been used to detect several long-lived radioisotopes by counting the accelerated ions. The problem of eliminating strong isobaric background beams has been solved by combining the energy loss dispersion through a uniform Al foil stack with the high momentum resolution of an Enge split-pole magnetic spectrograph. Radioisotope concentrations in the following ranges have been measured: 14C/12C = 10^(-12) to 10^(-13), 29Al/27Al = 10^(-10) to 10^(-12), 32Si/Si = 10^(-8) to 10^(-14), 36Cl/Cl = 10^(-8) to 10^(-11).