A new approach has been investigated to create an ultra‐cold radioactive beam from high‐energy ions. A223Ra alpha‐decay recoil source has been used to produce radioactive ions in superfluid helium. The alpha spectra demonstrate that the recoiling219Rn ions have been extracted out of liquid helium. This first observation of the extraction of heavy positive ions across the superfluid helium surface has been possible thanks to the high sensitivity of radioactive ion detection. An efficiency of 36 &percent; has been obtained for the ion extraction out of liquid helium. © 2004 American Institute of Physics