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The deuterium-hydrogen abundance ratio in the Venus atmosphere was measured while the inlets to the Pioneer Venus large probe mass spectrometer were coated with sulfuric acid from Venus' clouds. The ratio is 0.016 + or - 0.002. The hundredfold enrichment of deuterium means that at least 0.3 percent of a terrestrial ocean was outgassed on Venus, but is consistent with a much greater production.
The present situation of deuterium abundance evaluation in interstellar space is discussed, and it is shown that it should be or = .00001 by studying in more detail lambda the Sco line of sight and by observing two NaI interstellar components toward that star, it can be shown that the D/H evaluation made toward lambda Sco is in fact related to the local interstellar medium (less than 10 pc from the Sun). Because this evaluation is also or = .00001 it is in striking contrast with the one made toward alpha Aur (D/H or = .000018 confirming the fact that the deuterium abundance in the local interstellar medium varies by at least a factor of two over few parsecs.
Deuterium on Mars has been detected by the resolution of several Doppler-shifted lines of HDO near 3.7 micrometers in the planet's spectrum. The ratio of deuterium to hydrogen is (9 + or - 4) x 10 to the -4th; the abundance of H2O was derived from lines near 1.1 micrometers. This ratio is enriched on Mars over the telluric value by a factor of 6 + or - 3. The enrichment implies that hydrogen escaped more rapidly from Mars in the past than it does now, consistent with a dense and warm ancient atmosphere on the planet.
The abundance of deuterium in the atmosphere of Venus is an important clue to the role of water in the planet's history, because ordinary and deuterated water escape the atmosphere at different rates. The high-resolution mode of the IUE was used to measure hydrogen Lyman-alpha emission from Venus, but only an upper limit on deuterium Lyman-alpha emission was found, from which was inferred a D/H ratio of less than 0.002-0.005. This is smaller by a factor of 3-8 than the D/H ratio derived from measurements by the Pioneer Venus Large Probe, and may indicate either a stratification of D/H ratio with altitude or a smaller overall ratio than previously thought.
A comprehensive one-dimensional photochemical model extending from the middle atmosphere (50 km) to the exobase (432 km) has been used to study the escape of hydrogen and deuterium from the earth's atmosphere. The model incorporates recent advances in chemical kinetics as well as atmospheric observations by satellites, especially the Atmosphere Explorer C satellite. The results suggest that the escape fluxes of both H and D are limited by the upward transport of total hydrogen and total deuterium at the homopause. About one fourth of total hydrogen escape is thermal, the rest being nonthermal. It is shown that escape of D is nonthermal and that charge exchange and polar wind are important mechanisms for the nonthermal escape of H and D.
The measurement of total body water (TBW) is fundamental to the study of body fluid changes consequent to microgravity exposure or treatment with microgravity countermeasures. Often, the use of radioactive isotopes is prohibited for safety or other reasons. It was selected and implemented for use by some Johnson Space Center (JCS) laboratories, which permitted serial measurements over a 14 day period which was accurate enough to serve as a criterion method for validating new techniques. These requirements resulted in the selection of deuterium oxide dilution as the method of choice for TBW measurement. The development of this technique at JSC is reviewed. The recommended dosage, body fluid sampling techniques, and deuterium assay options are described.
The redistribution of titanium and aluminum in a single-phase TiAl alloy that has been exposed to a high pressure of deuterium gas at high temperature is studied. The microstructure in the as-received, uncharged condition consisted of single-phase gamma TiAl grains and a random distribution of precipitates. Precipitates were distributed throughout the matrix and along the grain boundaries. The chemistry of the precipitates varied considerably; some were rich in Al, while other were mostly Ti with some Si and Al. The dislocation density in most grains was low, although in a few grains a high dislocation density was observed. FCC deuterides with a lattice parameter of 0.45 nm form in a Ti-52.1Al-2.1Ta (at. pct) alloy after exposure to 1.38 MPa of deuterium gas at 650 C for 213 hr. The structure and lattice parameter are consistent with the formation of Ti(l)D2. The deuterides that form in this alloy are enriched in Ti and deficient in Al and Ta compared to the deuteride-free matrix. Regions of the matrix contiguous with the deuterides have a correspondingly enhanced aluminum and tantalum concentration.
During the ERICA project in 1989, ice crystals were collected from the tops of two winter storms and one broad cirrus cloud. Deuterium concentration in the storm ice samples, together with a model of isotope fractionation, are used to determine the temperature where the ice was formed. Knowledge of the ice formation temperature allows us to determine whether the ice has fallen or been lofted to the altitude of collection. In both storms, the estimated fall distance decreases upward. In the 21 January storm, the fall distance decreases to zero at the cloud top. In the 23 January storm, the fall distance decreases to zero at a point 2 km below the cloud top and appears to become negative above, indicating lofted ice. Cloud particle data from the cloud tops show an ice-to-vapor ratio greater than one and indicate the presence of particles with small terminal velocities; both observations support the idea of ice lofting. The satellite-derived cloud tops lie well below the actual cloud top (e.g., 2.5 km below on 23 January), indicating that the lofted ice in winter storms may not be detectable from space using IR radiance techniques. A comparison of deuterium in cloud-top ice and clear-air vapor suggests that even in winter, when vertical air motions are relatively weak, lofted ice crystals are the dominant source of water vapor in the upper troposphere.
The collisional ejection process for hydrogen on Venus is reanalyzed. Improved values for the efficiency of H and D escape as a function of the ionospheric temperature are reported. It is proposed that the reduction of the hydrogen flux for collisional ejection be reduced from 8 to 3.5 x 10 exp 6/sq cm/s, and a revised D/H fractional factor of 0.47 due to collisional ejection is suggested. The resulting deuterium flux is 3.1 x 10 exp 4/sq cm/s, roughly six times the flux due to charge exchange, making collisional ejection the dominant escape mechanism for deuterium on Venus.
Amino acids in the Murchison carbonaceous chondrite are anomalously enriched in deuterium. Synthesis in Strecker reactions from D-enriched interstellar precursors during low temperature aqueous alteration of the parent body has been proposed by Cronin et al. (1988) to account for the isotopic observations. To test this hypothesis, we have measured the retention of deuterium in the glycine, alanine, and alpha-amino isobutyric acid produced, respectively, by reactions of formaldehyde-D2, acetaldehyde-D4, and acetone-D6 with HCN and NH3 in water.
This study examines the extent of hydrogen-deuterium exchange on dicarboxylic acids during aqueous extraction. Deuterium enrichment was observed to be a function of diacid structure as well as delta-D. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.
We present a deuterium abundance analysis of the line of sight toward the white dwarf WD 2211-495 observed with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). Numerous interstellar lines are detected on the continuum of the stellar spectrum. A thorough analysis was performed through the simultaneous fit of interstellar absorption lines detected in the four FUSE channels of multiple observations with different slits. We excluded all saturated lines in order to reduce possible systematic errors on the column density measurements. We report the determination of the average interstellar D/O and D/N ratios along this line of sight at the 95% confidence level: D/O = 4.0 (+/-1.2) x 10(exp -2); D/N = 4.4 (+/-1.3) x 10(exp -1). In conjunction with FUSE observations of other nearby sight lines, the results of this study will allow a deeper understanding of the present-day abundance of deuterium in the local interstellar medium and its evolution with time.
High-resolution spectroscopy of Mars' atmosphere with the Hubble Space Telescope revealed the deuterium Lyman alpha line at an intensity of 23 +/- 6 rayleighs. This measured intensity corresponds to HD/H2 = 1.5 +/- 0.6 x 10(-4), which is smaller by a factor of 11 than HDO/H2O. This indicates that fractionation of HD/H2 relative to that of HDO/H2O is not kinetically controlled by the rates of formation and destruction of H2 and HD but is thermodynamically controlled by the isotope exchange HD + H2O left and right arrow HDO + H2. Molecular hydrogen is strongly depleted in deuterium relative to water on Mars because of the very long lifetime of H2 (1200 years). The derived isotope fractionation corresponds to an estimate of a planetwide reservoir of water ice about 5 meters thick that is exchangeable with the atmosphere.
Deuterium (D) plasma exposure during annealing of self-ion damaged tungsten (W) is shown to exhibit reduced defect recovery when compared to annealing without D plasma exposure. In these experiments, samples were first damaged with 20 MeV W ions. Next, samples were annealed either with or without simultaneous D 2 plasma exposure. The simultaneous annealed samples were first decorated by D 2 plasma at 383 K prior to ramping up to an annealing temperature of 473, 573, 673, or 773 K and held for 1 h with concurrent plasma exposure. The vacuum annealed samples each had a corresponding temperature history but without D 2 plasma treatment. Finally, all samples were exposed to D 2 plasma at 383 K to decorate any remaining defects. Nuclear reaction analysis and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) shows that the simultaneous plasma-exposed and annealed samples exhibited virtually no defect recovery at annealing temperatures of up to 673 K, and had higher D retention than found in the vacuum annealed samples. TDS results indicate that only the lowest detrapping energy defects recover at an 773 K anneal for the simultaneous plasma annealed samples, while the vacuum annealed samples showed defect recovery at all anneal temperatures. Furthermore, this experiment clearly demonstrates that D occupied defects can significantly reduce or eliminate defect annealing in W, and is consistent with the existence of synergistic plasma exposure/displacement damage effects in fusion-energy relevant plasma facing materials.
Fast ion confinement is of major importance for the ignition of a burning fusion plasma. In future deuterium plasma campaigns of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, W7-X, the amount of triton burn-up is one possible measure for fast ion confinement. A well-established technique to observe triton burn-up is the 14 MeV neutron rate. In this paper, it is estimated whether an existing scintillating fibre neutron detector is also suited to measure triton burn-up in W7-X with sufficient accuracy. In this work, an estimation is presented, which can be applied to any tokamak or stellarator design and is one-dimensional in the minor radius. The inputs are profiles of density, temperature, and differential volume element as well as the triton slowing-down time. The estimation calculates the thermal deuteron fusion rate and the associated deuteron-triton fusion rate; thus, the triton burn-up generated 14 MeV neutron rate. It neither takes triton diffusion nor explicit losses into account. This thermally generated fusion rate is compared to the neutral beam injection heating induced beam-plasma fusion rate.
In this work, the effects of rhenium (Re) addition on deuterium (D) retention in neutron-irradiated tungsten (W) were investigated. Pure W and W-5Re (5 at.%) alloy samples were irradiated with neutrons at High Flux Isotope Reactor using MFE-RB-19 J capsule. The sample temperature and the damage level were 864 K and 0.35 dpa for pure W and 792 K and 0.26 dpa for W-5Re alloy. A portion of the samples was exposed to D plasma at Tritium Plasma Experiment at Idaho National Laboratory at 823 K to a fluence of 5 × 1025 m -2 . Vacancy-type defects in neutron-irradiated samples were examined using positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS); D retention after plasma exposure was evaluated by thermal desorption spectrometry (TDS). TDS measurements revealed that D retention in the neutron-irradiated W-5Re alloy was similar to that in the unirradiated W sample, whereas a significant increase in D retention was observed in neutron-irradiated W. Thus, Re addition significantly suppressed the increase in D retention after neutron irradiation. This effect was attributed to the suppression of vacancy-type defect formation, as confirmed by PAS.
Lithium (Li) penta-aluminate (LiAl 5 O 8 ) is investigated as a potential tritium (T) breeding material, with a focus on microstructural response to ion irradiation and deuterium (D) diffusion behavior. Under high-fluence ion irradiation (2 x 10 17 (He + +D + )/cm 2 ) at 773 K, LiAl 5 O 8 exhibits significant disorder on the Li sublattice, as revealed by atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy, while the Al and O sublattices remain stable, demonstrating strong resistance to structural amorphization. Irradiation induces the formation of platelet-shaped antiphase boundaries (APBs), which may serve as effective D trapping sites. Atom probe tomography suggests the presence of 6 LiD clusters in the mass spectra, though definite conclusions regarding APB composition are hindered by signal overlap and limited data statistics. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry reveals that D retention approaches to saturation at 3 x 10 17 (He + +D + )/cm 2 . Isothermal and isochronal annealing studies determine an average diffusivity of 1.6 x 10 -13 at 773 K and an effective activation energy of 0.8 ± 0.1 eV for D migration. Compared to γ-LiAlO 2 , LiAl 5 O 8 demonstrates superior irradiation resistance, minimal Li loss, and enhanced D retention, underscoring its potential as a durable breeder material for T production. In conclusion, these findings provide key insights into the microstructural evolution, defect dynamics, and D retention mechanisms in LiAl 5 O 8 under reactor-relevant conditions.
A new technique to attenuate the unshifted deuterium Balmer-alpha (D-alpha) emission is developed and tested for the fast ion D-alpha (FIDA) diagnostic. The unshifted D-alpha emission, at λ = 656.1 nm, is around three orders of magnitude higher than the desired FIDA emission. Blocking the strong emission feature is essential to prevent blooming and light smearing on the CCD chip and scattered light contamination. The new method is a notch filter approach that utilizes the reflection from ultra-narrow bandpass filters to block the saturating signal before it enters the spectrometer. Collimated light from the fibers is reflected off the filter at a 15° angle of incidence. Measurements show that a center wavelength transmission of 0.006 and a blocking full width at half maximum of ~ 1 nm are achieved by using a 200 μm fiber and a 20 mm focal length collimator with two filters.