UC Berkeley

Through computer simulation on experimentally acquired optical spectra, uranium isotopic analysis by laser ablation molecular isotopic spectrometry and laser induced breakdown spectroscopy were studied. The use of only one spectral feature, either the strong UO band at 593.55 nm or the nearby U I 593.382 nm line, are similar in precisions (~ 1.5% in absolute 235U abundances). Precision improves to 0.72% with the use of a group of U atomic lines from 591.6 to 596.5 nm. The use of both molecular bands and atomic lines further advances the precision to 0.42% and compares well with the U II 424.437 nm single-line benchmark (0.48% precision).