On Sunday, December 6, 2020, 04:19:13 PM PST, grarpamp <grarpamp@gmail.com> wrote:

Yet another interesting potential application.
How is the takeup on validation research, test runs, production methods, etc?

I just started informing people associated with the Gallium Nitride LED industry a couple of days ago.  

The big companies are Nichia, Osram, Samsung Electronics, and Everlight

https://www.imarcgroup.com/led-bulb-manufacturing-plant

The substitution will be quite simple.  Just put in the relevant isotope instead of the natural-mix of isotopes.  

>Is isotope separation going to run into nuke centrifuge dual use issues?

Zinc is currently centrifuged in relatively limited quantities for use as a corrosion-inhibitor for nuclear reactors.  The problem is (was) that the lightest zinc isotope, Zn-64, reacts with a thermal neutron to form Zn-65, which emits dangerous gamma rays.  So, decades ago they began separating out the Zn-64 from the other zinc isotopes.    I think the market for this is about 2 tons per year.  It's called "depleted zinc".  

>ie: How will bulk manufacturing of pure glass, silicon, etc be different...

These blue LEDs are made with gallium nitride crystals.  The critical issue is the p+ (hole) doping, which has been done using magnesium atoms.  The problem is that most magnesium atoms don't create a 'hole', but a few do.  

Similarly, Zinc does a weak job because only 4.1% of natural isotope zinc is Zn67.  Most are other isotopes.