Mass Spectroscopic Studies on the Mechanism of Ionization of Atoms Formed as a Result of Radioactive Decay Processes. II

Measurements have been made on the charge states of ions produced by the electron capture decay of 109Cd(453d). The apparatus employed was a pulse-counting mode magnetic spectrometer, consisting an ion source chamber, an analyzer tube, a detector and 3-channel pumping systems. The radionuclide, 109Cd, produced by the nuclear reaction, 109Ag(d, 2n) 109Cd, was isolated without an isotopic carrier by the solvent extraction procedure developed by M. Inarida. A HCl solution of carrier-free 109Cd was dropped on the stainless steel meshes, which was later mounted to the ion source chamber. The ions produced by the electron capture decay of 109Cd on the solid surface were pulled out, analyzed by the magnetic field, and counted by a 16-stage Cu-Be electron multiplier. 109Cd decays to first excited state of 109Ag, which has a half life of 40 sec. Emitting 87.7 keV gamma rays, the state deexcites to the ground state of 109Ag. The gamma transition has an internal conversion coefficient larger than unity. The charge spectrum of the ions produced by the decay has shown that the most abundant species is singly-charged ions.