MRI: Acquisition of High Precision Laser-based CO2 Isotope Analysis System for Atmospheric and Seawater Applications

了解二氧化碳等全球重要大气气体的稳定同位素组成，有助于提供有关其来源和后续转化的有用“指纹”信息。二氧化碳同位素测量的最新进展集中在量子级联激光器(QCL)和多程光学吸收池的结合使用上。这种方法已经达到了QCL多通道系统现在开始与传统的磁扇形质谱计相匹配或更好的能力的地步。在Del 13C和Del 18O中，它们显示出接近每密耳0.01的精密度，在可靠性、分析成本和样品制备简易性方面比传统系统有相当大的优势。这些功能可能还有其他尚未开发的应用。将在这里购买的仪器将使用高精度的QCLS系统，对离散的空气和海水样本中二氧化碳的同位素组成进行常规分析，为该技术在关键环境应用中的更广泛应用打开大门。

Knowing the stable isotopic composition of a globally important atmospheric gas such as CO2 serves to provide useful 'fingerprint' information as to its source, and subsequent transformation. Recent progress in measuring CO2 isotopes has concentrated on using quantum-cascade lasers (QCLS) together with multi-pass optical absorption cells. Such approaches have reached a point where QCLS multi-pass systems are now starting to match or better the capabilities of traditional magnetic sector mass spectrometers. They exhibit comparable precisions approaching 0.01 per mil in del 13C and del 18O, and with considerable advantages over the traditional systems in terms of reliability, analytical cost, and ease of sample preparation. These capabilities may have additional, yet to be developed applications. The instrumentation to be acquired here will use a high precision QCLS system for routine analysis of isotopic composition of CO2 in discrete air and seawater samples, opening the door for broader application of the technology to key environmental applications.