SEPARATION OF ISOTOPES BY PHOTO-INDUCED PREDISSOCIATION

摘要

A method for producing isotopically enriched material by photoexcitation of gaseous formaldehyde molecules in which at least one element is present as two or more isotopes, and in which the molecules which contain one of the isotopes have a greater tendency to absorb a given spectrum range of light than do the molecules of another of the isotopes. Gaseous formaldehyde molecules are submitted to light in the given spectrum range in the presence of a stable paramagnetic gas. The molecules are thus raised to an excited electronic state and those containing the first isotope are dissociated permitting the first isotope to enter into a different stable chemical state. The matter constituting the first isotope can then be physically separated from the remainder. The paramagnetic gas enhances the yield of such matter containing the first isotope. Suitable paramagnetic gases are NO and O2. The technique is suitable for example in separating out 12C from other carbon isotopes.