Laser separation of carbon isotopes by two-frequency dissociation of Freons

An experimental investigation was made of the separation of carbon isotopes by selective multiphoton dissociation of CF₂HCl, CF₂Cl₂, and CCl₂HF molecules by two-frequency infrared laser radiation. It was found that two-frequency dissociation can substantially improve the parameters of the elementary separation event compared with single-frequency dissociation. In this case, a product highly enriched in ¹³C was obtained in a single step using laser fields of moderate energy density (less than 1–2 J/cm²). The best parameters of the separation process were achieved using CF₂HCl. A final ¹³C concentration of up to 98% in the products could be achieved for this compound in a single step. When the enrichment was 80%, the energy consumption and the productivity of the separation process utilizing multiphoton dissociation of CF₂HCl were ~ 1.9 ke V/atom of ¹³C and ~ 7 g/h of ¹³C per one 1 kW of average radiation power.