Background: The phenomenon of fusion hindrance may have important consequences on the nuclear processes occurring in astrophysical scenarios, if it is a general behavior of heavy-ion fusion at extreme subbarrier energies, including reactions involving lighter systems, e.g., reactions in the carbon and oxygen burning stages of heavy stars. The hindrance is generally identified by the observation of a maximum of the $S$ factor vs energy. Whether there is an $S$-factor maximum at very low energies for systems with a positive fusion $Q$ value is an experimentally challenging question.

The Selective Production of Exotic Species project is under construction at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro-INFN. The aim of the collaboration is to produce highly pure Radioactive Ion Beams (RIBs) from fission fragments of a uranium carbide (UC_x) target activated by a cyclotron proton beam. In order to select a specific atomic species, the main tool to be applied is the resonant laser ionization technique. We have just completed the installation of a dedicated all solid state laser system whose elements are tunable to transitions of all the elements/isotopes of interest for the project. The new laser system is based on three Titanium:sapphire laser sources, independently pumped by three Nd:YLF pump lasers, and it can be coupled to two high harmonic generation (second harmonic generation, third harmonic generation, and fourth harmonic generation) setups. The power, wavelength, and position of the laser beams are continuously monitored and stabilized by using automated active systems to improve the beam production stability of RIBs. This paper presents the main features of the laser system and examples of application of a laser ion source, including a first demonstration of photoionization of stable silver, one of the most requested elements for RIB application.

A two-step resonance photo-ionization scheme has been used to ionize samarium atoms in the SPES tantalum hot-cavity ion source. The effect of the ion load on the ion beam time structure and the laser enhancement of the ion yield has been studied at different ion source temperatures. Generally, the introduction of more positive ions (ion load) affects negatively the overall confinement of the laser ions inside the volume of the ion source. Possible enhancement of the laser ion confinement through the introduction of neutrals is observed as well. The ion load is also observed to affect the confinement in the transfer line much more than in the hot cavity. Measurement of the time structure with inverted polarity of the cavity DC heating supply confirmed the significance of the longitudinal potential for ion extraction. The laser enhancements of the ion yield are found to be sensitive to the ion load at low operating temperature of the ion source i.e. 1800°C, whereas at 2050°C and 2200°C, they are relatively stable till an ion load value of 1.2 µA.

We report on a laser photo-ionization study of silver in relation to the Selective Production of Exotic Species (SPES) project at INFN-LNL in the off-line laser laboratory. In this study, two dye lasers and an ablation laser operating at 10 Hz are used alongside a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS). Isotopic separation of the natural, stable isotopes ${}^{107}$Ag and ${}^{109}$Ag was clearly observed in the TOF signal. Resonant photo-ionization of silver was achieved with the use of the scheme 4d${}^{10}$5s ${}^2$S${}_{1/2}$→ 4d${}^{10}$5p ${}^2$P${}_{3/2}^o$→ 4d${}^{10}$6d ${}^2$D${}_{3/2}$ with transition wavelengths of 328.163 nm and 421.402 nm, respectively. Doppler-suppressed spectroscopy of these transition lines was performed in an ablation plume. Doppler broadening with collinear injection of excitation lasers and the effect of the linewidths of the excitation lasers were investigated. The fine-structure splitting of the level 4d${}^{10}$6d ${}^2$D (J = 5/2 and J = 3/2) was confirmed to be 186 ± 2 pm, corresponding to 314 ± 3 GHz.