About Us

A short history:

Following a sabbatical from September 2009 until September 2010, which I spent as a visiting professor in Grenoble, I moved my laboratory permanently to Grenoble in October 2010. This concluded a period of 15 years of teaching and research on laser-based stable isotope ratio measurements at the Center for Isotope Research of the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. These were exciting years, that followed shortly on the first successful stable isotope ratio measurements on methane by Peter Bergamaschi and colleagues at the University of Mainz. In Groningen, we decided instead to focus on the problem of water isotope ratio measurements, as these presented the most serious experimental difficulties using the conventional technique of Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS). In 1999 we published our first results, obtained with a cryogenically cooled (and also otherwise difficult to operate!) color center laser. In the early 2000’s we turned towards room-temperature operation single-mode diode lasers, and in 2003 we built our first instrument based on a derivative of the general technique of cavity ringdown spectroscopy (CRDS).

In Grenoble we continue to work closely together with the group of Daniele Romanini, in order to develop ever more sensitive and precise isotope ratio instruments using principally the technique of Optical Feedback Cavity Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy (a Grenoble invention).

The work is highly application driven, an aspect that benefits greatly from the presence in Grenoble of internationally highly recognized laboratories in the fields of, among others, Glaciology and Geophysics of the Environment (LGGE) and Earth Sciences (ISTerre), and evidenced by the collaborative research projects with researchers from these institutes.