High-purity F atom beam source

Fluorine atoms are generated by 2.45 GHz microwave dissociation of 99.99% F₂ in a synthetic sapphire single-crystal discharge tube. Typical F₂ gas flow and beam intensity are: 0.1 mbar ls^?1 and 9.5×10¹⁷ atoms sterad^?1 s^?1. The measured degree of dissociation into atoms isD>98%. The high total F atom flux together with the purity of the beam seem to make the source a very promising device for both reaction kinetic-and molecular beam-experiments