Preparation of pure tritium for a liquid D₂/T₂ target of muon-catalyzed fusion experiments

To prepare a pure liquid D₂/T₂ target for muon-catalyzed fusion (μCF) experiments, 50 TBq of tritium gas was purified with gas chromatography for isotopic enrichment and with the tritide formation reaction of uranium for chemical purification. The isotopic purity of the processed tritium was as high as 99.9% and the chemical purity 99.7%. The ³He content was 0.02% or less immediately after the preparation. A 300 mL (30 TBq) portion of pure T₂ gas was mixed with 700 mL of pure D₂ gas to be loaded into a target chamber made of stainless steel. The D₂/T₂ mixed gas was liquefied in the target chamber by cooling with liquid helium and irradiated with pulsed μ^- beams for more than 200 h. No characteristic muonic x-rays arising from impurities in the D₂/T₂ target were observed.