Hannover 2013 – scientific programme
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MS: Fachverband Massenspektrometrie
MS 9: Accelerator Mass Spectrometry and Applications II
MS 9.3: Talk
Thursday, March 21, 2013, 11:45–12:00, F 442
Expanding the actinide capabilities of the compact (0.5 MV) ETH-Zurich AMS system Tandy — •Marcus Christl1, Johannes Lachner1, Xiongxin Dai2, Xiaolin Hou3, and Hans-Arno Synal1 — 1Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH-Zurich, Switzerland — 2Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Chalk River Laboratories, Canada — 3Center for Nuclear Technologies, Technical University of Denmark
The installation of a second high energy magnet and the utilization of He as a stripper gas significantly improved the performance of the compact AMS system Tandy not only for the actinides. Meanwhile, U-236 and Pu-isotopes are routinely measured at very high sensitivities and at low background levels. Currently, we are expanding our capabilities to more non-traditional AMS nuclides. We intend to further improve the sensitivity of actinide measurements by optimizing chemical preparation methods and by developing robust and rapid detection methods for Np-, Am-, Cm-, and Cf-isotopes at ultra-trace levels. In this presentation, first, an overview over the existing AMS setup and the performance parameters for U- and Pu-isotopes will be given. Second, first sensitivity tests for Np, Am, and Cm will be presented. The first results show that detection limits in the attogram (10−18 g) range are achievable for these nuclides. However, a different and, more important, a temporally variable ionization yield for different actinide elements (e.g. Am vs. Cm) in the ion source is observed. This might hamper the application of, for example, a Am-spike to determine the amount of other actinides like Np or Cm in the same sample.