Abstract

A pulsed Ti:sapphire laser (TSL) is applied for what is, to our knowledge, the first time to laser isotope separation. A collimated beam of a rubidium atom with a natural isotope composition (⁸⁵Rb, 72%; ⁸⁷Rb, 28%) is excited selectively from the ground state to the 5²P_3/2 state by irradiation of the single-longitudinal-mode TSL, and is photoionized by successive UV radiation. Ion spectra of each isotope indicate that each isotope is selectively photoionized.

© 1993 Optical Society of America

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