A laser extraction/combustion technique for in situ δ13C analysis of organic and inorganic materials

Abstract

A CO(2) laser extraction system is described for in situ delta(13)C analysis of organic and inorganic materials. Carbonaceous compounds volatilized by the laser are quantitatively converted to CO(2) gas by a combustion furnace mounted after the sample chamber. Gases produced by the laser and combustion processes are swept by helium carrier gas and separated by a packed gas chromatography column prior to their introduction to an isotope ratio monitoring mass spectrometer. A sample of lentil bean was analyzed at a spatial resolution of 200 µm and yielded delta(13)C values with precision of +/- 0.3 per thousand. The accuracy of delta(13)C measurements was better than +/- 0.5 per thousand from NBS 22 (mineral oil), USGS 24 (graphite), and IAEA CO-1 (calcium carbonate). Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Spatially tracking 13C‐labelled substrate (bicarbonate) accumulation in microbial communities using laser ablation isotope ratio mass spectrometry

“…The results presented here highlight the ability of LA-IRMS to spatially pinpoint locations within a microbial mat where labelled substrate accumulates. While this specific LA-IRMS system was previously demonstrated on organic polymers (Moran et al, 2011) and a similar system was demonstrated on plant material (Wieser and Brand, 1999;Schulze et al, 2004;Skomarkova et al, Fig. 3.…”

Selected‐Control Fabrication of Multifunctional Fluorescent–Magnetic Core–Shell and Yolk–Shell Hybrid Nanostructures

“…Laser micro‐sampling devices also hold potential to ultimately be hybridized with a gas‐accepting AMS system because of their suitability in analyzing intact carbon‐bearing materials at high precision. In the geosciences, such laser systems have been widely used to ablate material into a colloidal suspension of fine particles in a flowing gas for various analyses 2–6. The energy from laser sampling devices also heats surfaces which they contact in addition to ablating the surface; thus simultaneous chemical reaction and/or decomposition is expected.…”

Accelerator mass spectrometry 14C determination in CO2 produced from laser decomposition of aragonite

“…In the geosciences, such laser systems have been widely used to ablate material into a colloidal suspension of fine particles in a flowing gas for various analyses. [2][3][4][5][6] The energy from laser sampling devices also heats surfaces which they contact in addition to ablating the surface; thus simultaneous chemical reaction and/or decomposition is expected. As a result, similar types of lasers (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet, or Nd-YAG) have been used on similar types of substrates (calcium carbonate) to analyze both ablated particles by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) 2,4,7 and evolved CO 2 (from decomposition of CaCO 3 (s) to CaO (s) and CO 2 (g)) gas using gas-sourced isotope ratio mass spectrometry (ir-MS).…”