Determination of Lithium Isotope Concentration by Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Using Chemometrics
Abstract
The role of enriched 6Li in nuclear applications makes the ability to detect and monitor lithium enrichment activity imperative. Detecting levels of enrichment of this isotope currently requires sensitive, complex equipment operated by highly-trained technicians, which is prohibitive to rapid detection of enrichment activity. While commercial companies market portable laser induced breakdownspectroscopy (LIBS) with the ability to detect elements on the order or parts per million concentrations, they have not yet been demonstrated to possess the ability to quantitatively determine isotopic concentrations of lithium. This research performs single-pulse LIBS experiments under laboratory conditions to determine concentrations of 7Li and 6Li in solid samples of lithium hydroxidemonohydrate in low-pressure argon environments. Spectra containing the atomic emission of lithium near 670.8 nm are collected in LIBS experiments. Chemometric analysis techniques (principal components regression, partial least squares regression, and neural networks analysis) are applied to these collected spectra to develop calibration curves for this equipment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1101485
Entities
People
- Jason C Wood
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology