Studies of laser-induced isotopic separation in pulsed free expansions of SF6 and UF6

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

Wuxi

Workshop; 15th International Workshop on Separation Phenomena in Liquids and Gases, SPLG 2019; 2019

The Molecule Laser Isotope Separation technique, MLIS, is based on laser selective excitation of a molecular beam, cooled by supersonic expansion through a nozzle. While this cooling process narrows the absorption lines it can also induce the formation of aggregates. Either repression of cluster formation or cluster fragmentation induced by selective excitation are the main mechanisms behind MLIS method for isotope separation. In this work we show results of  experiments on selective excitation and MLIS  for UF6 and SF6. Pulsed free expansions of diluted mixtures of these molecules with noble gases were irradiated by pulsed lasers tuned for excitation of the ν3 vibration mode of the molecule. Final products of the beam selected by a skimmer were analyzed using time of flight spectrometry.  In this communication we discuss the dependence of the setup parameters on the observed selectivity. We analyze the effect of the beam gas conditions, and irradiation configuration on the selectivity, as well as some of the processes post-irradiation. In particular, we study  the effect of the lapsed time between excitation and diagnostic measurements which spreads the irradiated beam affecting the observed selectivity. Finally, values of isotope selectivity were estimated in each case, and its application for isotope separation was analyzed.