Brief history
Brief history
Our institute was founded in 1950. At the beginning, the institute was a section of the Institute of Atomic Physics from Bucharest.
In 1970, the Cluj section of IAP became administratively independent under the denomination of Institute of Stable Isotopes and in 1977 changes its name in Institute of Isotopic and Molecular Technology. In 1999 the institute was certified as "NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF ISOTOPIC AND MOLECULAR TECHNOLOGIES"
Our days, the Institute is structured in four research laboratories, a prototype workshop and an administration department.
The main research domain concerns the stable isotope physics: isotopic effects, separations, stable isotope applications in biology, geology, ecology, etc., molecular physics and biophysics.
Light elements isotopes like deuterium, 6Li, 10B, 13C, 15N, 22Ne are separated by appropriate technologies, and labelled compounds are synthesised. Fluorinated compounds (UF6 , SF6) synthesis technologies fitted to our endowment are set up. In order to appreciate the effectiveness of the separation process and correctly run the separation columns, we were brought to develop an analytical department: mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray spectroscopy, electron spin resonance and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Then, a small nucleus of analytical tools allowed us to enter other research fields: molecular physics and solid state physics, upper atmosphere physics. The continuous need of better instrumentation led us to the apparatus construction activities. These brought ion optics and enhanced electronics design in our institute. The facilities we achieved to obtain isotopes helped the development of interdisciplinary researches where isotopes labelled compounds are involved: pharmaco-kinetics, nutrition studies, transport phenomena through biological membranes. Our analytical possibilities in the range of small isotope ratio variations got us involved in studies related to the natural abundance of stable isotopes, isotope geology and isotope hydrology.
In the recent years, there has been an increasing interest in a group of optically excited thermal processes, known as photothermal effects. The derived applications have made available new and convenient methods to investigate thermal properties and optical absorption in matter, de-excitation mechanisms and very well spatially and temporally localised, thermally related processes. Among the photothermal methods, the calorimetric techniques alone are based on the direct detection of the temperature field, therefore having a number of advantages over other detection schemes involving secondary mechanisms. Pyroelectric sensors have a temperature-measurement resolution of 10-6K and when combined with periodic excitation and lock-in signal processing, this limit can be lowered even further. Their use as temperature sensors in calorimetric techniques has marked the appearance of the photopyroelectric (PPE) technique.
Finally, we have to mention a somehow new approached domain: the environment survey, where our research groups found a very fertile soil for their analytical skill.
Back Last revised: March 25th 2008