Ultrahigh single-step deuterium enrichment in CO2 laser photolysis of trifluoromethane as measured by carbon–isotope labeling

Extremely high single-step deuterium enrichment factors (β) were measured in the CO2 laser photolysis of trifluoromethane near 10.3 μ by irradiating a prepared mixture of 12CDF3/13CHF3 and determining the 13C content in the product C2F4. With 30 J/cm2 peak focal fluence incident on 200 mTorr CHF3/20 Torr Ar, β was ≳ 20 000 for λ?10.25 μ and decreased monotonically toward shorter wavelengths. β was observed to decrease at higher laser fluences.