Accelerator mass spectrometry measurements

The ratio of a sample is measured in relation to a standard to improve the accuracy and precision of accelerator mass spectrometry measurements (Elmore and Phillips, 1987). Multiplying the ratio by 1000 results in the delta (del) values having units of parts per thousand, also know as per mil (%o). For standards, it is necessary to use wood from trees harvested before about 1850 pre-industrial, to avoid the Suess effects. The standard value for pre-industrialized atmospheric CO2 is 13.56 dpm g-1 or 14C/C equals 1.176 x 10-12 (Broecker and Peng, 1982). A correction term involving the effects of isotopic fractionation (IF) are also subtracted out of this equation. Isotopes are fractionated due to physical and chemical reactions (more details in the following section), thereby making the abundance of carbon isotopes (12C, 13C, and 14C) different in plants (Faure, 1986). The National Bureau of Standards currently provides an oxalic acid 14C standard that is used for this correction however, there have been many problems associated with development of this standard (Craig, 1954, 1961 Stuiver and Polach, 1977). 

Oughton, D. H., Skipperud, L., Fifield, L. K., Cresswell, R. G., Salbu, B., and Day, P. 2004. Accelerator mass spectrometry measurement of Pu-240/Pu-239 isotope ratios in Novaya Zemlya and Kara Sea sediments. Appl Radiat Isotopes 61(2-3), 249-253. 

FIGURE 4 Schematic of tandem accelerator used for direct accelerator mass spectrometry measurements at the... 

Soon after this discovery the harnessing of the technique to the measurement of all the U isotopes and all the Th isotopes with great precision immediately opened up the entire field of uranium and thorium decay chain studies. This area of study was formerly the poaching ground for radioactive measurements alone but now became part of the wonderful world of mass spectrometric measurements. (The same transformation took place for radiocarbon from the various radioactive counting schemes to accelerator mass spectrometry.)... 

The impact of this new technique, which was called Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), on the radiocarbon and archaeologist communities, was immediate and revolutionary. The introduction of AMS is indeed recognized by some as the third revolution in radiocarbon dating[22,23] and it has provided the opportunity to date very precious finds by collecting very small samples. The interest in developing the technique of AMS was so evident that, just few years after the measurements cited above, a first dedicated AMS system (based on a tandem accelerator) was designed and built [24] then, the first dedicated... 

In order to provide AMS analyses to the broad ocean sciences research community, the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility (NOSAMS) was established at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Massachusetts) in 1989. Studies performed there include identification of sources of carbon-bearing materials in the water column and sediment, dating of sedimentary samples, investigations of paleocirculation patterns (e.g., from observations of differences in 14C relative abundances in planktonic and benthic foraminifera, and coral cores and cross sections), as well as studies of modern oceanic carbon cycling and circulation. In fact, much that is known about advective and diffusive processes in the ocean comes from measurements of chemical tracers, such as 14C, rather than from direct measurements of water mass flow. 

Ann McNichol is a Research Specialist at the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which produces high-precision 14C measurements from small-volume samples. Dr. McNichol s research interests include the study and use of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotope techniques to quantify bio-geochemical processes, the study of the fate of organic matter (both natu-... 

For a better idea of the toxicity of VOCs, we can look more closely at some studies of TCE (Bogen et al., 1998). In vitro uptake of C-14-labeled trichloroethylene (TCE) from dilute (similar to 5-ppb) aqueous solutions into human surgical skirt was measured using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The AMS data obtained positively correlate with (p approximate to 0) and vary significantly nonlinearly with (p = 0.0094) exposure duration. These data are inconsistent (p approximate to 0) with predictions made for TCE by a proposed EPA dermal exposure model, even when uncertainties in its recommended parameter values for TCE are considered but are consistent (p = 0.17) with a 1-compartment model for exposed skin-surface. This study illustrates the power of AMS to facilitate analyses of contaminant biodistribution and uptake kinetics at very low environmental concentrations. Eurther studies could correlate this with toxicity. 

Instrumental layouts and developments in AMS are reviewed by Kutschera.195 Today AMS is the most powerful, sensitive and selective mass spectrometric technique for measuring long-lived radionuclides at the level of natural isotopic abundances (10-16 to 10-12). Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) allows uranium isotope ratio measurements with an abundance sensitivity for 236U in the range of l(rlo-10 l2.l98J"... 

Trace impurities including B, N, F, Mg, P, Cl, Cr, Fe, Ni, Co, Cu, Zn, Ge, As, Se, Mo, Sn and Sb in semiconductor materials (Si, SiGe, CoSi2, GaAs and GaN) can also be measured by TEAMS (trace element accelerator mass spectrometry), which utilizes a secondary ion source in an accelerator mass spectrometer.51 TEAMS is an interesting complementary technique to SIMS and can eliminate interferences that may not be resolvable in SIMS. 

The most famous cosmogenic radionuclide is 14C (t1/2 = 5730 a), which is produced by the interaction of cosmic ray neutrons via an (n,p) reaction with nitrogen [14N(n, p)14C], whereas the radioactive decay of 14C takes place by (3 decay to form the stable 14N isotope. 14C is the most important cosmogenic radionuclide for dating (see Section 9.7.5) in archaeology and can be analyzed using isotope sensitive accelerator mass spectrometry. Extremely small isotope ratios 14C/12C = 12 in nature can be measured by means of AMS.28... 

Acceleration mass spectrometry (AMS) - The precise measurement of isotopic ratios for very low abundance isotopes is beyond the capability of conventional mass spectrometers. In these cases of isotopes at minute trace levels, some 50 mass spectrometers exist worldwide. The tendetrons used for these types of analyses are derived from Van de Graaff-type particle accelerators. These instruments are based on tandem mass spectrometry. 

Barker, J., and Gamer, R. C. (1999). Biomedical applications of accelerator mass spectrometry-isotope measurements at the level of the atom. Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom. 13 285-293. 

Elmore, D., and Phillips, F. M. (1987). Accelerator mass spectrometry for measurement of long-lived radioisotopes. Science 236 543-550. 

Gamer, R. C. (2000). Accelerator mass spectrometry in pharmaceutical research and development—A new ultrasensitive analytical method for isotope measurement. Curr. Drug Metab. 1 205-213. 

Trumbore, S. E. (1996). Measurement of cosmogenic isotopes by accelerator mass spectrometry Applications to soil science. In Applications of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Boutton, T., and Yamasaki, S. eds., Marcel Dekker, New York, pp. 311-340. 

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