Isobar separation at very low energy for AMS

The separation of atomic and molecular isobars, prior to injection into a tandem accelerator for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), is discussed. To accomplish this separation, the anions from a standard sputter ion source are retarded to eV energy. The advantages of using very low energy (eV) for this purpose are twofold. The ionic reactions in gases can be isobar specific and the multiple scattering of the eV ions, unlike that at higher energy, can be controlled in linear radio-frequency multipoles. An example of current interest to AMS practice, the suppression of the S⁻ isobar ions from negative ion sources generating mainly Cl⁻ ions, will be described. It will be argued that this is a universal method for isobar separation prior to AMS, which is applicable to atomic anions and cations as well as their molecular counterparts. This procedure should be applicable to the AMS analysis of most rare radioactive species, as atomic or molecular ions, starting with either anions or cations, with appropriate charge changing. In some cases the ions may be analysable without AMS.