Determination of 13C/12C ratios with (d, p) nuclear reactions

Abstract Stable isotope ratios such as 13 C/ 12 C play an important role in many applications including environment and energy research. Since many surface analysis techniques are plagued with unavoidable hydrocarbon contamination issues during analysis, it is highly desirable that 13 C and 12 C isotopes be measured simultaneously especially in specimens with a minute amount of 13 C, in order to reliably determine 13 C/ 12 C ratios. In this paper, we report that deuterium induced proton particle reactions, 13 C(d, p) 14 C and 12 C(d, p) 13 C, provide a convenient and reliable approach for 13 C/ 12 C ratio determination. Optimizations on experimental considerations and potential interferences from other common light isotopes are discussed as well as results from the application of this technique to diagnose the performance of a target debris collection in an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiment.