Development of a game-changing isotope analysis method using absorption saturation phenomena in an optical cavity

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K14162
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 31010:Nuclear engineering-related
• Research Institution: Nagoya University (2019-2020); Japan Atomic Energy Agency (2018)
• Principal Investigator: Kuwahara Akira 名古屋大学, 工学研究科, 助教 (50732418)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 同位体分析 / レーザー分光 / キャビティリングダウン分光 / 光共振器 / 吸収飽和 / プラズマ分光分析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A novel laser spectroscopic system consisting of an optical cavity has been developed to achieves high sensitivity and high wavelength resolution by causing absorption saturation. In this study, we demonstrated the feasibility of absorption saturation by experimental and theoretical approaches. First, we confirmed experimentally that the peak intensity of an absorption profile decreased by a few percent due to absorption saturation of an atomic-electronic transition at the incident beam intensity of 2 mW into the optical cavity. Next, two numerical models of cavity ring-down spectroscopy were proposed and their results suggest that the initial saturation and its relaxation process in a ring-down signal can be observed under a few mW of the incident laser beam intensity.

Free Research Field

原子力工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

従来の同位体分析では、サンプルを装置に導入する前の人手による前処理作業が分析コストや被ばくリスクの増加をもたらしている。本研究では、人手を要さずにサンプル分析を実現するため、高温プラズマとレーザー分光を組み合わせ、特定条件下で出現する物理現象を駆使する新しい分析法について、原理実証を行った。本手法は、化学分離等の専門的知識や付帯設備を必要とせず、単一装置のみで分析を完結できる利点もあり、原子力工学分野以外への適用も期待できる。