Macroscopic yields by laser isotope separation

Laser separation has for the first time produced macroscopic amounts of isotopically enriched compounds of such elements as boron, chlorine and sulfur. Last fall experimenters at the Institute for Spectroscopy, Moscow¹ and the National Bureau of Standards² both described experiments on boron isotope separation from boron trichloride. An NBS group has also done work on separating chlorine isotopes. This past March the Moscow group reported their recent successes with sulfur. Shortly thereafter the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory made public similar sulfur experiments. Results at all three places indicate that significant progress has been made since we last reported on laser isotope separation (PHYSICS TODAY, September 1974, page 17).