Molecular laser isotope separation versus atomic vapor laser isotope separation

Need for enrichment of lutetium isotope and design of a laser based separator module

Lutetium-177 radio-pharmaceutical has become an important theranostic candidate in cancer treatment. Its availability from bench-to-bed requires strategic implementation of isotope-enrichment, neutron-irradiation and radio-chemical techniques. In this paper, the need for enrichment of lutetium-176 is emphasized by estimating specific activity of lutetium-177 as a function of enrichment percentage for typical neutron flux available at Dhruva reactor, India. A novel Atomic Vapour Laser Isotope Separation (AVLIS) module for lutetium-176 enrichment is designed to meet the above requirement. The paper documents its characteristics and production estimates. The design is carried out after critical assessment and evaluation of available AVLIS-infrastructure in the country. Outline of lutetium-177 enrichment, capable of producing non-carrier-added lutetium is also provided. This work concludes that India has taken a step forward towards self-reliance (Atmanirbhar Bharat) in securing the supply chain of lutetium-177.

Synchronous characterization of semiconductor microcavity laser beam

We report on a high-resolution double-channel imaging method used to synchronously map the intensity- and optical-frequency-distribution of a laser beam in the plane orthogonal to the propagation direction. The synchronous measurement allows us to show that the laser frequency is an inhomogeneous distribution below threshold, but that it becomes homogeneous across the fundamental Gaussian mode above threshold. The beam's tails deviations from the Gaussian shape, however, are accompanied by sizeable fluctuations in the laser wavelength, possibly deriving from manufacturing details and from the influence of spontaneous emission in the very low intensity wings. In addition to the synchronous spatial characterization, a temporal analysis at any given point in the beam cross section is carried out. Using this method, the beam homogeneity and spatial shape, energy density, energy center, and the defects-related spectrum can also be extracted from these high-resolution pictures.

High-power tunable narrow-linewidth Ti:sapphire laser at repetition rate of 1 kHz

We report a high-power tunable narrow-bandwidth Ti:sapphire laser at a repetition rate of 1 kHz. The spectral linewidth of 0.4 pm with wavelength tuning range from 780 nm to 820 nm is obtained by a spectrum-compressing technique that consists of one grating and four fused silica prisms in the oscillator cavity. This narrow-bandwidth seed from the oscillator is further amplified to 6.5 W with pulse duration of 16 ns under the pumper power of 22 W. This high-power laser with narrow linewidth is candidate for isotope separation and accuracy spectrum analysis.