Laser Isotope Enrichment for Medical and Industrial Applications

Abstract

Use of lasers for isotope separation has been considered for many decades. None of the proposed methods have attained sufficient proof of principal status to be economically attractive to pursue commercially. Some of the authors have succeeded in separating sulfur isotopes using a rather new and different method, known as condensation repression. In this scheme, a gas of the selected isotopes for enrichment is irradiated with a laser at a particular wavelength that would excite only one of the isotopes. The entire gas is subjected to low temperatures sufficient to cause condensation on a cold surface or coagulation in the gas. Those molecules in the gas that the laser excited are not as likely to condense or dimerize (coagulate into a double molecule, called a dimer) as unexcited molecules. Hence in cold-wall condensation, gas drawn out of the system is enriched in the isotope that was laser-excited. We have evaluated the relative energy required in this process if applied on a commercial scale. We estimate the energy required for laser isotope enrichment is about 30% of that required in centrifuge separations, and 2% of that required by use of “calutrons”.