An RF-only ion-funnel for extraction from high-pressure gases

[Display omitted] •We present a new and simple design of an RF-only ion funnel.•Longitudinal ion transport is provided by the residual gas flow through the funnel thus no DC drag field is required.•The presented ion funnel allows for ion extraction from argon and xenon gas from up to 10bar to 10−3mbar in only one step with very high efficiency.•First experimental results of ion extraction from high-pressure noble gas have been performed and are compared with gas dynamic and ion trajectory calculations. An RF ion-funnel technique has been developed to extract ions from a high-pressure (10bar) noble-gas environment into a vacuum (10−6mbar). Detailed simulations have been performed and a prototype has been developed for the purpose of extracting 136Ba ions from Xe gas with high efficiency. With this prototype, ions have been extracted for the first time from high-pressure xenon gas and argon gas. Systematic studies have been carried out and compared to simulations. This demonstration of extraction of ions, with mass comparable to that of the gas generating the high-pressure, has applications to Ba tagging from a Xe-gas time-projection chamber for double-beta decay, as well as to the general problem of recovering trace amounts of an ionized element in a heavy (m>40u) carrier gas.