ISOTOPIC SEPARATION OF SF6 IN PULSED FREE JET BEAMS INDUCED BY CO2 LASERS

D. FREGENAL; P. FAINSTEIN; J. D. FUHR; E. KAÚL; P. KNOBLAUCH; A. LAMAGNA; P. MACEIRA; M. ZARCO; E. ZEMMA; J. FIOL

Stresa

Workshop; 14th International Workshop on Separation Phenomena in Liquids and Gases; 2017

Laser assisted isotope separation of atoms or molecules in gas jets are studied extensively as a promising method of isotope enrichment for a wide variety of applications such as nuclear energy, particle detectors, semiconductor industry, and special lasers.Free expansion of the gas results in a supercooled supersonic jet. This dynamical cooling of the gas leads to two different effects: (a) It narrows the absorption lines, and (b) cold molecules cluster into small aggregates. Thus isotope-selective laser excitation may be used to either repress the formation or induce the break-up of clusters, providing a method to isotope separation. This method depend on several system parameters, such us irradiation point, temperature before the expansion, or concentration of the component in the gas jet. Collecting a sample from different portions of the beam allows the separation of the different components of the gas jet according to their mass distribution.In this work we present results of experiments of isotope separation induced by laser on gas mixtures of SF6 with rare gases. A jet produced by a pulsed nozzle expanded freely in the field of a CW CO 2 laser before being selected by a skimmer. The resulting products were analyzed using time-of-flight technique with an UV laser as ionizing source. Extensive studies were done to determine the dependence of the isotope separation and the cluster fragmentation on the relevantsystem parameters, i.e., irradiation point, gas temperature and pressure previous to expansion, laser wavelength and power, SF6 concentration. The obtained enrichment factor show that mass selectivity for selected laser wavelengths is similar to that obtained in similar conditions in previous experiments with continuous gas flux [1]. Similar experiments on UF6 are underway.[1] J.-M. Zellweger, J.-M. Philippoz, P. Melinon, R. Monot, and R. van den Bergh, Phys Rev.Lett. 52, 522 (1984). J.-M: Philippoz, J. -M Zellweger, and H. van den Bergh, Surface Science156 701. (1985).