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Applications of cavity ring-down spectroscopy to high precision isotope ratio measurement of 13C/12C in carbon dioxide

Literature Reference
Peer Reviewed Literature
Authors

Ed H. Wahl, Bernard Fidric, Chris W. Rella, Sergei Koulikov, Boris Kharlamov, Sze Tan, Alexander A. Kachanov, Bruce A. Richman, Eric R. Crosson, Barbara A. Paldus, Shashi Kalaskar, and David R. Bowling

Presented at

Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies 42, 1, pp. 21-35 March 2006 IngentaConnect

Abstract

Recent measurements of carbon isotopes in carbon dioxide using near-infrared, diode-laser-based cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) are presented. The CRDS system achieved good precision, often better than 0.2‰, for 4% CO2 concentrations, and also achieved 0.15–0.25‰ precision in a 78 min measurement time with cryotrap-based pre-concentration of ambient CO2 concentrations (360 ppmv). These results were obtained with a CRDS system possessing a data rate of 40 ring-downs per second and a loss measurement of 4.0?×?10 -11  cm -1  Hz -1/2 . Subsequently, the measurement time has been reduced to under 10 min. This standard of performance would enable a variety of high concentration (3–10%) isotopic measurements, such as medical human breath analysis or animal breath experiments. The extension of this ring-down to the 2 µm region would enable isotopic analysis at ambient concentrations, which, combined with the small size, robust design, and potential for frequent measurements at a remote site, make CRDS technology attractive for remote atmospheric measurement applications.