Measurement of Rb isotope ratio by atomic absorption spectroscopy with multi-microchannel array structure cavity

Abstract

Rubidium (Rb) isotope analysis has important applications in geological exploration and environmental detection. Based on tunable laser atom absorption spectroscopy technology combined with thermal decomposition of the sample, a Rb isotope absorption spectroscopy measurement device is built to detect the Rb isotope ratio stability. And the atomic generator is designed by a new micro-channel array structure, which enhances atomic beam collimation capability, effectively suppresses the doppler effect of the spectrum, and improves the resolution of Rb isotope absorption spectrum. The device adopts tantalum metal to make the atomic generator with a diameter of 6 mm, and the micro-channel array with a diameter of 1 mm is stacked inside the atomic generator which can be heated resistively to 3000 ℃. In this experiment, the Rb carbonate sample is catalyzed to release Rb atom beam at a high temperature of 600 ℃, while a probe laser is used to obtain high resolution Rb absorption spectrum. The Rb isotope ratio (<sup>85</sup>Rb∶<sup>87</sup>Rb) of natural abundance Rb carbonate samples is 2.441±0.02 by combining the inversion of the spectral line parameters, the detection error is 5.9%, and the detection limit of <sup>87</sup>Rb is 1.76‰ (3<i>σ</i>). The experimental results show that the multi-microchannel structure reduces the linewidth of Rb atoms by 450 MHz (half height full width) compared with the counterparts of the single-channel structure, which can effectively distinguish the absorption characteristics of Rb isotopes. The device has a high detection accuracy and a high spectral resolution, which provides a possibility for the metal isotope abundance analysis, and has a broad application prospect.