Preliminary Report on an Electromagnetic Isotope Separator

Abstract

As a first step towards constructing a high intensity electromagnetic isotope separator, the focussing characteristics of the Smythe type magnetic lens was investigated. And for preliminary experiments of isotope separation, we constructed a small mass separator of this type. The apparatus has the ion radius of 50 cm in the magnet, and has two ion sources which can be operated independently and simultaneously. The ion source was a sort of Finkelstein type and its characteristics was investigated in conjunction with the electrostatic lens system. The maximum ion current on the collector that was attained was about 400 μa and 1 ma for neon and for magnesium respectively.