<title>Detection of hydrogen isotope atoms by mass spectrometry combined with resonant ionization</title>

Abstract

The application of mass spectrometry using resonant ionization by a tunable laser was investigated for analyzing hydrogen isotopes. Resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) was carried out to detect gas-phase hydrogen isotope atoms. The ionization efficiency was increased more than thousand times that obtained with conventional methods using non-resonant ionization. Resonant laser ablation mass spectrometry (RLAMS) was applied for deuterium detection in solid samples. A graphite substrate implanted with deuterium as used for ordinary laser ablation mass spectrometry (LAMS) and RLAMS. The deuterium signal was observed very clearly by RLAMS, in contrast to LAMS. Mass spectrometry combined with resonance ionization was very useful for hydrogen isotope detection, because components with equal mass numbers were resolved and the method demonstrated higher ionization efficiency.