Laser isotope separation of 192Ir

Abstract

The following two-step isotope selective photoionization process has been studied for the separation of ¹⁹²Ir isotope from natural Iridium irradiated in a medium flux reactor for 28 days.5d⁷6s²F9/240.0cm^-1→247.5871nm5d⁷6s6p40389.83cm^-1J=9/2→307.9nmIr⁺Density matrix formalism has been used for the investigation of laser isotope separation process. Optimum system parameters such as peak power densities of the excitation and ionization lasers, bandwidth of the excitation laser, angular divergence limit to the atomic ensemble have been derived. Effects of number density and ion travel distance prior to collection on charge exchange probability have also been studied. It has been shown that it is possible produce ∼98% enriched ¹⁹²Ir at rate of 82 μg/h (27.9 GBq/h or 0.76 Ci/h) which can provide activity of 334 TBq/g or 9027 Ci/g. The enriched ¹⁹²Ir can be used in both high-dose brachytherapy and high speed radiography. This is the first ever study on the laser based enrichment of Iridium isotopes.