A new method for quantifying Cu in nuclear debris samples.

Quantifying Cu in post-detonation nuclear debris samples can provide important diagnostic information regarding the structural materials used within a nuclear device. However, this task is challenging due to the weak gamma emissions associated with the decay of Cu, its short half-life (12.701 h), and the presence of interfering fission product radioisotopes.

Chemical separation and measurement of platinum activation products.

A method has been developed to purify and measure platinum radioisotopes in the presence of fission products and environmental constituents. The method uses a combination of cation exchange and anion exchange chromatography and selective precipitation steps to remove other radioisotopes from the sample. The addition of stable platinum carrier allows for a gravimetric determination of the chemical yield of the procedure.

Measurement of the internal stress and electric field in a resonating piezoelectric transformer for high-voltage applications using the electro-optic and photoelastic effects.

The high output voltages from piezoelectric transformers are currently being used to accelerate charged particle beams for x-ray and neutron production. Traditional methods of characterizing piezoelectric transformers (PTs) using electrical probes can decrease the voltage transformation ratio of the device due to the introduction of load impedances on the order of hundreds of kiloohms to hundreds of megaohms. Consequently, an optical diagnostic was developed that used the photoelastic and electro-optic effects present in piezoelectric materials that are transparent to a given optical wavelength to determine the internal stress and electric field.