Alekseev I, Arkhipov Ev, Bondarenko S, Fedorchenko O, Ganzha V, Ivshin K, Kammel P, Kravtsov P, Petitjean C, Trofimov V, Vasilyev A, Vasyanina T, Vorobyov A, Vznuzdaev M
National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (NRC "Kurchatov Institute" PNPI), 188300 Gatchina, Russia.
Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
Rev Sci Instrum. 2015 Dec;86(12):125102. doi: 10.1063/1.4936413.
Isotopic purification of the protium and deuterium is an important requirement of many physics experiments. A cryogenic facility for high-efficiency separation of hydrogen isotopes with a cryogenic distillation column as the main element is described. The instrument is portable, so that it can be used at the experimental site. It was designed and built at the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, Gatchina, Russia. Fundamental operating parameters have been measured including a liquid holdup in the column packing, the pressure drops across the column and the purity of the product at different operating modes. A mathematical model describes expected profiles of hydrogen isotope concentration along the distillation column. An analysis of ortho-parahydrogen isomeric composition by gas chromatography was used for evaluation of the column performance during the tuning operations. The protium content during deuterium purification (≤100 ppb) was measured using gas chromatography with accumulation of the protium in the distillation column. A high precision isotopic measurement at the Institute of Particle Physics, ETH-Zurich, Switzerland, provided an upper bound of the deuterium content in protium (≤6 ppb), which exceeds all commercially available products.
氕和氘的同位素提纯是许多物理实验的重要要求。本文描述了一种以低温精馏塔为主要元件的用于高效分离氢同位素的低温装置。该仪器便于携带，因此可在实验现场使用。它是由俄罗斯加奇纳市彼得堡核物理研究所设计建造的。已测量了基本运行参数，包括塔填料中的持液量、塔两端的压降以及不同运行模式下产品的纯度。一个数学模型描述了沿精馏塔氢同位素浓度的预期分布。在调谐操作期间，通过气相色谱法对正 - 仲氢异构体组成进行分析，以评估塔的性能。在氘提纯过程中，利用气相色谱法并通过在精馏塔中积累氕来测量氕含量（≤100 ppb）。瑞士苏黎世联邦理工学院粒子物理研究所进行的高精度同位素测量给出了氕中氘含量的上限（≤6 ppb），这超过了所有市售产品。
