| 摘要 |
A method for separating charged particles according to their mass requires providing a multi-species plasma in a chamber. The plasma includes both relatively low-mass charged particles (M1) and relatively high-mass charged particles (M2) which are influenced by crossed electric and magnetic fields (ExB) in the chamber. Specifically, the crossed fields (ExB) rotate the particles M1 and M2 in respective orbits that are characteristic of the mass of the particular particle. Inside the chamber, each charged particle has a respective cyclotron frequency (OMEGA), and the plasma is maintained with a density wherein the collisional frequency (&ngr;) of particles in the chamber relates to the cyclotron frequency such that their ratio is greater than approximately one (OMEGA/&ngr;>=1). Additionally, a collector is positioned to intercept the particles (M2) in their orbits and to thereby separate the particles (M2) from the particles (M1).
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