  We report first results obtained during the commissioning of the Laser
Resonance Chromatography (LRC) apparatus, which is conceived to enable atomic
structure investigations in the region of the heaviest elements beyond
nobelium. In our studies we first established optimum conditions for the
operation of the different components of the setup, including the
radio-frequency quadrupole ion buncher and the cryogenic drift tube, which was
operated with helium buffer gas at relatively low electric fields. We used
laser ablated hafnium, lutetium, and ytterbium cations to assess the
chromatography performance of the drift tube at a gas temperature of $295$K.
Arrival time distributions of singly charged lutetium revealed two distinct ion
mobilities of this ion in the ground and metastable state in helium with a
relative difference of about $19$%. By using $^{219}$Rn ions from a $^{223}$Ra
recoil source the overall efficiency of the apparatus is found to be
$(0.6\pm0.1)$%. The findings help to establish LRC on lutetium, which is the
lighter chemical homolog of lawrencium.
