New Calibrated Evaporation Oven for Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer in Offline SPES Laser Laboratory.

In the framework of the research and development activities of the Selective Production of Exotic Species (SPES) project [1] regarding the optimization of the radioactive beam production a new home made Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer (ToF-MS) was build in the off-line laser laboratory. Thanks to this instrument it is possible to test resonant laser ionization processes of stable species, to evaluate their ionization efficiency and even isotope separation capability. Nowadays, a Nd:YAG laser is used to evaporate atoms by laser ablation in the spectrometer, making these atoms available for later resonant ionization processes. The new evaporation oven, replacing the ablation system, is designed to guarantee a more stable and calibrated atom flux making possible laser ionization efficiency measurements, which are inapplicable with the current system. This work will present the design of the new graphite oven system, its preliminary heating tests, and first measurements aimed to evaluate the evaporation profile generated by the heated furnace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]