Darmstadt 2008 – scientific programme
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MS: Fachverband Massenspektrometrie
MS 3: Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) I
MS 3.6: Talk
Tuesday, March 11, 2008, 09:45–10:00, 3E
Carrier free AMS measurements of natural 10Be/9Be ratios — •Peter W. Kubik1, Marcus Christl2, and Fabian Scheifele2 — 1Paul Scherrer Institute, Institute of Particle Physics, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland — 2Institute of Particle Physics, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
AMS measurements of 10Be/9Be ratios can in general only be used to calculate the 10Be concentrations in a sample because the 9Be concentration is completely dominated by the addition of Be carrier material. Often, however, as for applications in oceanography, it is of interest to know the temporal variations of natural 10Be/9Be ratios. In those cases, the 9Be concentrations before carrier addition will have to be measured independently with a different method such as ICP-OES. This leads to larger uncertainties in the final 10Be/9Be ratios and to higher analysis costs. A direct measurement of natural 10Be/9Be ratios by AMS alone could reduce both.
SIMS and Accelerator SIMS studies have shown that it is possible to measure 10Be samples with Be concentrations in the sub-microgram range. Both those methods have limits which severely reduce their usefulness for 10Be routine measurements requiring large numbers of samples. We currently develop a new method for the PSI/ETH 6MV Tandem accelerator facility which should allow us to use our standard 10Be sample preparation methods and AMS techniques albeit somewhat modified.