Laser pumping of ions in a cooler buncher

Optical experiments at the IGISOL isotope separator facility, Jyvaskyla, have for many years benefited from the introduction of an ion beam cooler. The device, a gas-filled RF quadrupole, reduces the emittance and longitudinal energy spread of the ion beam. Very recently, use has been made of the axial confinement of slowly travelling ions at the end of the cooler to redistribute the electronic populations through efficient laser excitation. Such a technique has proved beneficial to laser spectroscopic measurements and is a precursor to using the method to polarize the ion beam.