Cross Sections of Charge Transfer between Uranium Atoms and Ions Produced by Autoionization

Abstract

A technique to reduce charge transfer has been studied to cut enrichment loss during atomic vapor laser isotope separation. The charge transfer cross sections of uranium were experimentally examined. The cross sections of charge transfer for case A (between ground-state ions and atoms) and, cases B and C (between ions populated in some excited states and atoms) were relatively measured in the energy range of 100–2,000 eV by the cross-beam method. The charge transfer cross sections for cases A, B and C do not depend on impact energy, and the cross sections for case A are smaller than those for cases B and C. These results are in fairly good agreement agreed with theoretical predictions. It is confirmed experimentally and theoretically that the uranium charge transfer cross section depends on its initial ionic state, therefore ion loss by charge transfer will be reduced by controlling the initial state of the ions.