Isotope separation laser-controlled

Due to the very high intensity of the laser beams and their coherent nature they may be used in a variety of ways where controlled energy is required. Lasers are used commercially for excitation with a specific energy, e.g. in Raman spectroscopy or isotope separation. 

Other uses of lasers include eye surgery on detached retinas, spot welding, holography, isotope separation, accurate determination of the moon s orbit by reflection of laser light off a reflector placed on the moon s surface, and laser-guided bombs and missiles. Possible future uses include terrestrial and extraterrestrial communication, applications to computers, and production of the high temperatures needed for controlled nuclear-fusion reactions. 

Selective excitation of wavepackets with ultrashort broadband laser pulses is of fundamental importance for a variety of processes, such as the coherent control of photochemical reactions [36-39] or isotope separation [40--42]. It can also be used to actively control the molecular dynamics in a dissipative environment if the excitation process is much faster than relaxation. For practical applications it is desirable to establish an efficient method that allows one to increase the target product yield by using short laser pulses of moderate intensity before relaxation occurs [38]. 

Laser radiation is monochromatic and in many cases it also is tuneable these two characteristics together provide the basis for high-resolution laser spectroscopy. The interaction between laser radiation and molecules can be very selective (individual quantum states can be selected), permitting chemists to investigate whether energy in a particular type of molecular motion or excitation can influence its reactivity. Photochemical processes can be carried out with sufficient control that one can separate isotopes, or even write fine fines (of molecular dimensions) on surfaces. 

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