IAEA-CN-115-10 · High throughput, high precision ¹⁴C AMS with a small accelerator

J. Southon, G. M. Santos, E. R. M. Druffel, S. Griffin, S.E. Trumbore, X. Xu

Earth System Science Dept, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-3100, USA

Abstract: The costs of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) systems for radiocarbon measurements have dropped sharply in recent years, but at $1M to $1.3M, these instruments still represent major investments. However, these costs are not excessive for a facility producing several thousand high precision ¹⁴C analyses per year. Here we describe methods developed at the AMS laboratory at University of California Irvine (UC Irvine) for achieving high throughput at high precision. Key factors include: large-scale parallelism in sample preparation plus streamlining of sample pretreatment procedures; development of a robust and easily maintainable high output ion source; removal of data analysis bottlenecks; and training of laboratory personnel to ensure that several staff members can carry out critical functions.

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