An All-Solid-State High Repetiton Rate Titanium:Sapphire Laser System For Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Sources

In-source resonance ionization spectroscopy of high lying energy levels in atomic uranium

“…1 The other two Ti:Sa lasers used birefringent filters and etalons for wavelength selection resulting in slightly lower spectral bandwidth of about 3 GHz and similar pulse length at a reduced continuous scanning range of 5-10 cm −1 around a predetermined central wavelength. These lasers readily provide the laser power and long-term stability required for operation at laser ion sources [7,8] and feature a spectral band width which is optimally adapted to the Doppler width of an atom ensemble within a hot source. The fundamental Ti:Sa laser radiation was converted into the blue spectral range around 405 nm for the first excitation step of uranium by frequency doubling in a BBO crystal involving critical phase matching.…”

Determination of the first ionization potential of actinium

“…From there the atoms are ionized by different processes and the number of ions is detected (e.g., as a function of the frequency of one of the lasers). For resonant excitation of Ac atoms a system of two spectrally tunable pulsed Ti:sapphire lasers was used, which was developed at the university of Mainz [21]. Operated at a repetition rate of 5 kHz, each Ti:sapphire laser provided an average output power of up to 4 W, a spectral bandwidth of about 3 GHz, and a pulse duration of 40 ns.…”

“…For the spectroscopic studies presented here just three samples with amounts of only 5 × 10 11 atoms of 227 Ac were available, so that high sensitivity and detection efficiency were prerequisites for the spectroscopic approach. Resonance ionization spectroscopy (RIS) meets these requirements particularly well when applied inside a hot cavity [11,19,20] and when using state-of-the-art pulsed high-power, high-repetition-rate solid-state laser systems [21]. In addition, Ac has a closed 7s shell and only one single electron in the 6d orbital leading to a comparatively simple level scheme with only little perturbations.…”

Resonance ionization scheme development for europium

“…On the other hand there are three solid state Titanium:Sapphire (Ti:Sa) lasers, based on the design by Mainz university (2 x Z-cavities [18,19] and 1 x tunable grating Ti:Sa [20]) available which are pumped by two Photonics Industries DM-60 frequency doubled Nd:YAG lasers. Additionally a Blaze laser from Coherent (frequency doubled Nd:YVO 4 , 532 nm) is available and most commonly used for RILIS ionization schemes which employ a non-resonant last step for ionization.…”