Abstract
A surface-ionization ion source designed to operate in combination with the BEMS-2 isotope separator in a heavy ion beam in described. The ion source is adjusted for the separation of rare-earth elements. The separation efficiency for
150Dy is determined to be equal to about 20% at an ionizer temperature of 2600 K. The hold-up times for praseodymium, promethium and dysprosium in the ion source range from 5 to 10 s at ionizer temperatures of 2500–2700 K.