Electrical breakdown in gases

Separation of N16O and N18O has been measured in a thermal diffusion column heated by resonant absorption of CO laser photons. For the most part, the behavior of the laser‐heated column can be adequately explained as a simple thermal effect, although the separation efficiency at low‐input powers is higher in the laser‐heated column than in a comparable hot‐wire experiment.

Operation of a laser‐heated thermal diffusion column

Radiation from a cw CO2 laser is used to separate SF6 molecules from helium molecules in a bulk mixture of each, by resonant radiation pressure. These experimental results demonstrate that selective absorption of radiation can cause physical separations of molecules within a diffusion‐limited geometry.

Jeffery H. Richardson

Papers

Experimental evidence of laser‐induced separations in bulk gas mixtures