Mass spectrometry accelerator, atom counting

In Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), a solid specimen, placed in a vacuum, is bombarded with a narrow beam of ions, called primary ions, that are suffi-ciendy energedc to cause ejection (sputtering) of atoms and small clusters of atoms from the bombarded region. Some of the atoms and atomic clusters are ejected as ions, called secondary ions. The secondary ions are subsequently accelerated into a mass spectrometer, where they are separated according to their mass-to-charge ratio and counted. The relative quantities of the measured secondary ions are converted to concentrations, by comparison with standards, to reveal the composition and trace impurity content of the specimen as a function of sputtering dme (depth). 

Principal characteristics of small sample liquid scintillation counting (lsc), gas proportional low-level counting (11c) and atom counting by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) are summarized in Table 1, and systems we have used are shown in figure 1. The most important differences (apart from cost and availability)... 

U-series nuclide activities can be measured directly by detection of their emitted nuclear particles, e.g., alpha particle counting by solid-state detectors (Ivanovich and Harmon, 1992). In contrast, measurements by mass-spectrometry do not require waiting for Nature to take its course. Atoms of the sample are ionized and accelerated so that charged particles of the nuclides themselves can be measured by Faraday cups or electron multipliers (see Goldstein and Stirling, 2003). Mass-spectrometry is hence a more rapid technique. Typically mass-spectrometry measurements take tens of minutes to hours, while counting methods require days to weeks. 

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) extends the capabilities of atom-counting using conventional mass spectrometry, by removing whole-mass molecular interferences without the need for a mass resolution very much better than the mass difference between the atom and its molecular isobar. This technique has been used with great success for the routine measurement of C, Be, " Al, C1 and, recently, (see Table 5.15). Analysis of " C by AMS can, for example, generate dates with a precision that is at least equal to the best conventional beta-particle-counting facility. In many cases, where small sample analysis is required, the AMS method has proved superior (Benkens, 1990). A complete description of AMS can be found in review articles (Litherland et al., 1987 Elmore and Philips, 1978) or recent conference publications. The application of AMS to measurement has been discussed in detail in Kilins et al. (1992). 

Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) was developed to overcome the fundamental limitations of both the decay-counting as well as conventional mass spectrometry. AMS method takes much less time, e.g., 10,000 atoms of 14c... 

The basic principles of thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) operation were described in Chapter 1 a drop of the liquid sample is deposited on a filament, a low electric current heats the filament, and the solution is evaporated to dryness. The filament current (temperature) is then raised and atoms of the sample are emitted and ionized (either by the same filament or by a second electron emitting filament). The ions are accelerated by an electric field, pass through an electrostatic analyzer (ESA) that focuses the ion beam before it enters a magnetic field that deflects the ions into a curved pathway (in some devices, the ions enter the magnetic field before the ESA—referred to as reverse geometry). Heavy and light ions are deflected by the field at different curvatures that depend on their mass-to-charge ratio. A detector at the end of the ion path measures the ion current (or counts the ion pulses). There are many variations of ion sources, ion separation devices, and detectors that are used in TIMS instruments and specifically adapted for ultratrace or particle analysis. 

Accelerator mass spectrometry (Fig. 21) is de-.signed for the most precise atom counting of cos-... 

An important property of the MOT is the ability to catch atoms whose optical frequencies are shifted from the laser frequency by only a few natural linewidths. This property has been applied for ultrasensitive isotope trace analysis. Chen et al. (1999) developed the technique in order to detect a counted number of atoms of the radioactive isotopes Kr and Kr, with abundances 10 and 10 relative to the stable isotope Kr. The technique was called atom trap trace analysis (ATTA). At present, only the technique of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) has a detection sensitivity comparable to that of ATTA. Unlike the AMS technique based on a high-power cyclotron, the ATTA technique is much simpler and does not require a special operational environment. In the experiments by Chen et al. (1999), krypton gas was injected into a DC discharge volume, where the atoms were excited to a metastable level. 2D transverse laser cooling was used to collimate the atomic beam, and the Zee-man slowing technique was used to load the atoms into the MOT. With the specific laser frequency chosen for trapping the Kr or Kr isotope, only the chosen isotope could be trapped by the MOT. The experiment was able to detect a single trapped atom of an isotope, which remained in the MOT for about a second. 

Plate 22 Radiocarbon dating. View of a linear accelerator used as part of an accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS). This device is capable of counting the relatively few carbon-14 atoms in a radioactive sample. The proportion of carbon-14 to carbon-12 atoms in the sample may be used to determine the radiocarbon age of an organic object. This is then adjusted by various corrections to give the true age. See Isotope Ratio Studies Using Mass Spectrometry. Reproduced with permission from Science Photo Library. 

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