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Combination of atomic lines and molecular bands for uranium optical isotopic analysis in laser induced plasma spectrometry

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Abstract

Through computer simulation on experimentally acquired optical spectra, uranium isotopic analysis by laser ablation molecular isotopic spectrometry and laser induced breakdown spectroscopy were studied. The use of only one spectral feature, either the strong UO band at 593.55 nm or the nearby U I 593.382 nm line, are similar in precisions (~ 1.5% in absolute 235U abundances). Precision improves to 0.72% with the use of a group of U atomic lines from 591.6 to 596.5 nm. The use of both molecular bands and atomic lines further advances the precision to 0.42% and compares well with the U II 424.437 nm single-line benchmark (0.48% precision).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development Office and the Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract number DE-AC02-05CH11231 at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

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  1. Inhee Choi

    Present address: Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, 62 Gwahakro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Xianglei Mao, George C.-Y. Chan, Inhee Choi, Vassilia Zorba & Richard E. Russo

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Correspondence to George C.-Y. Chan.

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Mao, X., Chan, G.CY., Choi, I. et al. Combination of atomic lines and molecular bands for uranium optical isotopic analysis in laser induced plasma spectrometry. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 312, 121–131 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-017-5197-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-017-5197-y

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