Isotopic Fractionation of Water-Ice from Sublimation

Abstract:

Elizabeth Christensen, Charisa Boyer, Manesseh Park, Ezra Benitez, Gerardo Dominguez

Understanding the multi-isotopic fractionation of water-ice that results from its sublimation may be important for understanding the isotopic composition of cometary ices. Here we describe an experimental setup whose purpose is to understand the effects of various astrophysical processes on the δD and δ¹⁸O and δ¹⁷O composition of water-ices. Our setup consists of an ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) chamber with oil free pumping, a closed cycle He cryostat to achieve low temperatures (capable of reaching 6K), and a vacuum line connected to the chamber via a UHV feed-through. Water isotopologues  H₂¹⁶O, H₂¹⁸O, H₂¹⁷O, and HD¹⁶O samples can be measured after sublimation of water-ice with a cavity ring-down spectrometer (Picarro L2120-i) that is connected to the vacuum line. To perform these experiments, ambient water vapor was introduced into, frozen, and purified inside the UHV chamber (T< 150 K). Water-ice samples were sublimated for varying amounts of time to collect various fractions of the original reservoir. We will present the first results on the oxygen and deuterium isotopic fractionation of water-ice sublimation and discuss their implications for interpreting the isotopic compositions of cometary ices.