Abstract A process is, herein, disclosed for separating a particular isotope from a mixture of different isotopes by selective excitation and ionization of the particular isotope with a single laser beam, said process comprising heating the mixture, converting the resulting atomic vapor to a highly directional atomic beam by suitable means, causing said atomic beam to travel through a vacuum, crossing the atomic beam with a high-intensity laser beam having a specific wavelength, selectively exciting the particular isotope with a first photon having that specific wavelength while the other isotopes remaining in the ground state, allowing the excited isotope to absorb a second photon to be excited to a virtual energy level, causing the so excited isotope to absorb a third photon to ionize said isotope, and recovering the ionized isotope by use of an electric or electromagnetic field.
Inventors
👤 Takashi Arisawa
👤 Yoichiro Maruyama
👤 Youji Suzuki
👤 Kazumi Iwamoto
Bibliographic Details
Application Number—
JurisdictionUS
Data Sourcegoogle_patents
Last Synchronized2026-11-02 23:36
CPC Classifications
B; B01; B01D; B01D59/00; B01D59/34
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 2
Claim 1
Independent Claim
194 words
A process for separating a particular isotope from a mixture of different isotopes of an element by selective exitation and ionization of the particular isotope with a single laser beam, said process comprising: heating an isotopic mixture to form an atomic vapor comprising uranium-235, each of the atoms of the atomic vapor being in a ground state; converting the resulting atomic vapor to a highly directional atomic beam by suitable means; causing said atomic beam to travel through a vacuum, crossing the atomic beam with a single laser beam having a wavelength selected from the group consisting of approximately 5027; 5511; 5620; 5758; 5915 and 5971 angstroms and an intensity of about 3×10 5 to 10 6 W/cm 2 ; selectively exciting the particular isotope with a first photon from said laser beam while the other isotopes remain in the ground state; allowing the excited isotope to absorb a second photon from said laser beam to be excited to a virtual energy level, causing the so excited isotope to absorb a third photon from said laser beam to ionize said isotope, and recovering the ionized isotope by use of an electric of electromagnetic field.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
194 words
A process for separating a particular isotope from a mixture of different isotopes of an element by selective exitation and ionization of the particular isotope with a single laser beam, said process comprising: heating an isotopic mixture to form an atomic vapor comprising uranium-235, each of the atoms of the atomic vapor being in a ground state; converting the resulting atomic vapor to a highly directional atomic beam by suitable means; causing said atomic beam to travel through a vacuum, crossing the atomic beam with a single laser beam having a wavelength selected from the group consisting of approximately 5027; 5511; 5620; 5758; 5915 and 5971 angstroms and an intensity of about 3×10 5 to 10 6 W/cm 2 ; selectively exciting the particular isotope with a first photon from said laser beam while the other isotopes remain in the ground state; allowing the excited isotope to absorb a second photon from said laser beam to be excited to a virtual energy level, causing the so excited isotope to absorb a third photon from said laser beam to ionize said isotope, and recovering the ionized isotope by use of an electric of electromagnetic field.