To Enhance Sensitivity for Pu Analysis with a Single Grain of Activated Charcoal

A technique for enhancing ion emission from plutonium is described. Asingle grain of activated charcoal on the Re filament is used in order to loadsamples and determine the isotopic composition of plutonium for sample from0.1 to 20 ng. One ion can be collected for each 60 atoms loaded. The sensi-tivity of this technique is more than one order of magnitude of that usingdual filaments. and it is capable of providing more precise data.