A new method for rare-earth isotope separation

Abstract A new method is described for electromagnetic isotope separation of radioactive rare-earth elements. The chemically pure fractions of rare-earth elements obtained by cation-exchange chromatography technique and deposited in the process of cathode precipitation on a tungsten foil were loaded into a pipetype-surface-ionization ion source. The isotope separation time was approximately 3 min, the separation efficiency in the case of Nd isotopes amounted up to 80% and for Dy up to 66%.