Magnetically activated and guided isotope separation

We propose a general method for efficient isotope separation. The principle of operation is based on an irreversible change of the mass-to-magnetic moment ratio of a particular isotope in an effusive atomic beam, followed by magnetic guiding. We show that scalability is feasible with this method. The application of this method towards production of highly enriched Li-7 for the nuclear industry is analyzed in detail, and extension to other elements is discussed.