The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 15, 1978
Filed:
Oct. 12, 1976
Harold K Forsen, Bellevue, WA (US);
George Sargent Janes, Lincoln, MA (US);
Richard H Levy, Boston, MA (US);
Jersey Nuclear-Avco Isotopes, Inc., Bellevue, WA (US);
Abstract
Method and apparatus for impact ionization of particles excited with isotopic selectivity, particularly for use in a system of uranium isotope separation and enrichment. Efficient impact ionization is achieved by first selectively exciting vaporized particles of the desired isotope in a beam of finely tuned laser radiant energy. The energies of the interacting photons are selected to produce a total energy shift during excitation which is slightly less than the ionization energy for the selected isotope. The excited isotope will thus be raised to an excitation level only slightly below the ionization level. This level is selected to permit efficient ionization, particle collisional ionization, between energetic particles in the uranium vapor environment and the highly excited particles of the desired isotope type.