  We present a kinetic model for optical pumping in Lu$^+$ and Lr$^+$ ions as
well as a theoretical approach to calculate the transport properties of Lu$^+$
in its ground $^1S_0$ and metastable $^3D_1$ states in helium background gas.
Calculations of the initial ion state populations, the field and temperature
dependence of the mobilities and diffusion coefficients, and the ion arrival
time distributions demonstrate that the ground- and metastable-state ions can
be collected and discriminated efficiently under realistic macroscopic
conditions.
