Abstract
Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation (AVLIS) is a general and powerful technique applicable to many elements. A major present application to the enrichement of uranium for lightwater power reactor fuel has been under development at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory since 1973. In June 1985, the Department of Energy announced the selection of AVLIS as the technology to meet future U.S. needs for the internationally competitive production of uranium separative work. Major features of the AVLIS process will be discussed with consideration of the process figures of merit.
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References
Early recognition of the potential of atomic vapor laser isotope separation is generally attributed to Ambartzumian and Letokhov [Ambartzumina 1972] following their experimental work on selective photoionization of rubidium [Ambartzumian, 1971], and Levy and James [Levy, 1973]
R.V. Ambartzumian, V.S. Letokhov: Appl. Opt.11, 354 (1972)
R.V. Ambartzumian, V.N. Kalinin, V.S. Letokhov: JETP Lett.13, 217 (1971)
R.H. Levy, G.S. James:Method and Apparatus for the Separation of Isotopes, U.S. Patent 3,772,519 (1973)
For a more extensive discussion of resonant multistep photoionization, see L.J. Radziemski, R.W. Solarz, J.A. Paisner (eds.)Laser Spectroscopy and Its Applications (Dekker, New York 1987), pp. 175
V.S. Letokhov:Laser Photoionization Spectroscopy (Academic, Orlando, Florida 1987)
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Paisner, J.A. Atomic vapor laser isotope separation. Appl. Phys. B 46, 253–260 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00692883
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00692883