Uranium isotope separation using IR-lasers

A method of uranium isotope separation based on selective excitation of UF6 is described. By optically exciting certain molecular vibrations, the activation energy for the rate of a chemical reaction is reduced, resulting in an increase in reaction rate. Isotope separation can therefore be reduced to a simple chemical process. Experiments and results are described for selective excitation of UF6 gas using a tunable C0 laser. It is shown that isotopically selective excitation of UF6 combination bands is not feasible in a simple manner, but the excitation of UF6 in the ν3 fundamental is much more promising. (U.K.)