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

Stable isotope ratios such as 13C/12C 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 13C and 12C isotopes be measured simultaneously especially in specimens with a minute amount of 13C, in order to reliably determine 13C/12C ratios. In this paper, we report that deuterium induced proton particle reactions, 13C(d, p)14C and 12C(d, p)13C, provide a convenient and reliable approach for 13C/12C 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.