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

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

doi:10.1007/s10967-017-5197-y

Cited by 45 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…The coupling of optical measurements with laser ablation techniques, like in Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), has ideal characteristics for stand-off in-situ or online monitoring [7] at atmospheric pressure [8,9,10] for elemental analyses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the isotopic shift of the molecular form is not always significantly larger than the isotopic shift of the atomic or ionic form. For example, the isotopic shift of molecular emissions of uranium oxide is only slightly larger (35 pm around 593 nm) than the isotopic shift of the ionic form of uranium (24.8 pm at 424.43 nm) [10]. In addition, molecular emission is not always observable in the laser-induced plasma.…”

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confidence: 95%

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Laser-induced breakdown self-reversal isotopic spectrometry for isotopic analysis of lithium

Touchet

Chartier

Hermann

et al. 2020

Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy

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Online monitoring or in-situ isotopic analysis techniques in extreme environments are strategic tools in nuclear industry. A new optical method for performing isotopic analysis in solid samples at ambient pressure has been developed: Laser-Induced Breakdown self-Reversal Isotopic Spectrometry (LIBRIS). This method uses self-absorption of atomic or ionic resonance lines that are emitted from a non-uniform laser-induced plasma. It takes advantage of the fact that the spectral width of the absorption dip is much smaller than the spectral width of the emission line profile. Isotopic measurements were carried out on lithium samples by measuring the spectral position of the absorption dip that is shown to have a linear dependence on the 6 Li isotopic abundance. Stand-off and real-time analysis can be performed without any sample preparation or pre-treatment. The effect of the laser wavelength, of the ambient gas and of the gate delay is investigated. Optimum conditions lead to a relative uncertainty of about 6 % on the isotopic abundance measurement of 6 Li. The influence of the spectral shifts due to Stark and Doppler effects on the performance of LIBRIS are discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 95%

Laser-induced breakdown self-reversal isotopic spectrometry for isotopic analysis of lithium

Touchet

Chartier

Hermann

et al. 2020

Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy

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“…Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) represents a robust method for in-situ, remote, and real-time analytical measurements of material composition [5][6][7]. This method has demonstrated its high versatility in extraterrestrial [8] and deep-sea exploration [9], detection and classification of explosives [10,11], analysis of soil contaminants [12], use in nuclear power plants and dry cask storage systems [13][14][15], and detection of nuclear materials in general [16][17][18]. LIBS relies on focusing a high-power laser pulse onto the surface of a sample to produce ablation and, subsequently, a plasma.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote Detection of Uranium Using Self-Focusing Intense Femtosecond Laser Pulses

et al. 2020

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Optical measurement techniques can address certain important challenges associated with nuclear safety and security. Detection of uranium over long distances presents one such challenge that is difficult to realize with traditional ionizing radiation detection, but may benefit from the use of techniques based on intense femtosecond laser pulses. When a high-power laser pulse propagates in air, it experiences collapse and confinement into filaments over an extended distance even without external focusing. In our experiments, we varied the initial pulse chirp to optimize the emission signal from the laser-produced uranium plasma at an extended distance. While the ablation efficiency of filaments formed by self-focusing is known to be significantly lower when compared to filaments produced by external focusing, we show that filaments formed by self-focusing can still generate luminous spectroscopic signatures of uranium detectable within seconds over a 10-m range. The intensity of uranium emission varies periodically with laser chirp, which is attributed to the interplay among self-focusing, defocusing, and multi-filament fragmentation along the beam propagation axis. Grouping of multi-filaments incident on target is found to be correlated with the uranium emission intensity. The results show promise towards long-range detection, advancing the diagnostics and analytical capabilities in ultrafast laser-based spectroscopy of high-Z elements.

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“…Characterization of a U plasma using high laser power can provide useful nuclear forensic information: Isotope ratio characterization, and quantitative and qualitative analysis of radioactive samples. These signatures have been studied using LA-ICP-MS and LIBS techniques [42][43][44][45][46] , however, these approaches do not probe the conditions of the expanding plume directly. 11 In the present study, we extract the plume through small apertures to gain direct access to the conditions in the plasma.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time of flight mass spectrometry with direct extraction of a uranium plasma

Thompson

Alavi

Walensky

et al. 2019

International Journal of Mass Spectrometry

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We demonstrate a Wiley-McClaren Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer modified to allow direct extraction of ions from a laser-induced plasma. Unlike many other methods that utilize mass spectrometry to investigate laser-induced plasmas, no collisional cooling or further ionization of the plasma is required prior to acceleration, allowing measurements of the plasma ion composition to be obtained directly. Furthermore, we show using the laser ablation of gadolinium as an example that we are able to obtain the translational energy distribution of the plasma directly and infer information about the relative composition of ions within different regions of the plasma plume. The approach is then applied to laser ablation of a uranium sample as a step toward probing the chemistry under conditions relevant to a nuclear fireball for nuclear forensics applications.

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

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

Cited by 45 publications

References 50 publications

Laser-induced breakdown self-reversal isotopic spectrometry for isotopic analysis of lithium

Laser-induced breakdown self-reversal isotopic spectrometry for isotopic analysis of lithium

Remote Detection of Uranium Using Self-Focusing Intense Femtosecond Laser Pulses

Time of flight mass spectrometry with direct extraction of a uranium plasma

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