Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-jbqgn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-17T17:46:16.542Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The New Gas Ion Source at CEDAD: Improved Performances and First 14C Environmental Applications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2018

Lucio Calcagnile ,
Lucio Maruccio ,
Eugenia Braione  and
Gianluca Quarta
Lucio Calcagnile
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio de Giorgi”, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Lucio Maruccio
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio de Giorgi”, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Eugenia Braione
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio de Giorgi”, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Gianluca Quarta*
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio de Giorgi”, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
*
*Corresponding author. Email: gianluca.quarta@unisalento.it.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A new sputtering ion source has been installed at CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics) at the University of Salento in Lecce, Italy. The installation of the new ion source, capable of accepting both solid and gas samples, required significant modifications of the existing low energy injector of the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) system. The new ion source is connected, through an in-house designed gas handling interface, to an elemental analyzer which combusts the samples to carbon dioxide and splits the gas into an IRMS system and also to the gas feed line of the ion source. This arrangement allows the simultaneous measurement of C, N content (in the EA), carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic ratios by IRMS and radiocarbon (14C) by AMS on samples with masses in the microgram range. The results of different tests performed to find optimal operational conditions and to improve the system performances are presented. The performances of the system as a function of the diameter of the glass capillary used to feed the source and the pressure of the gas mixture in the syringe are also presented. The achievable precision and blank levels are discussed together with the results obtained in environmental studies.

Keywords

environmentgas samplesmicrogram samplesradiocarbon
Type
Instrumentation
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 60 , Issue 4: 2nd Radiocarbon in the Environment Conference Debrecen, Hungary, July 3–7, 2017 Part 1 of 2 , August 2018 , pp. 1083 - 1089
Copyright
© 2018 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Braione, E, Maruccio, L, Quarta, G, D’Elia, M, Calcagnile, L. 2015. A new system for the simultaneous measurement of δ13C and δ15N by IRMS and radiocarbon by AMS on gaseous samples: design features and performances of the gas handling interface. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 361:387–391.Google Scholar
Calcagnile, L, Quarta, G, D’Elia, M, Rizzo, A, Gottdang, A, Klein, M, Mous, DJW. 2004. A new accelerator mass spectrometry facility in Lecce, Italy. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research 223–224C:16–20.Google Scholar
Calcagnile, L, Quarta, G, D’Elia, M. 2005. High resolution accelerator-based mass spectrometry: precision, accuracy and background. Applied Radiation and Isotopes 62(4):623–626.Google Scholar
Calcagnile, L, Quarta, G, Maruccio, L, Synal, H-A, Muller, AM. 2015. The new system at CEDAD for the analysis of 10Be, 26Al, 129I and actinides: set-up and performances. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 361:100–104.Google Scholar
Fahrni, SM, Wacker, L, Synal, H-A, Szidat, A. 2013. Improving a gas ion source for 14C AMS. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 294:320–327.Google Scholar
Fiorentino, G, Caracuta, V, Calcagnile, L, D’Elia, M, Matthiae, P, Mavelli, F, Quarta, G. 2008. Third millennium B.C. climate change in Syria highlighted by carbon stable isotope analysis of 14C-AMS dated plant remains from Ebla. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 266(1–2):27, 51–58.Google Scholar
Hammer, S, Levin, I. 2017. Monthly mean atmospheric Δ14CO2 at Jungfraujoch and Schauinsland from 1986 to 2016. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.11588/data/10100.Google Scholar
Van Klinken, GJ. 1999. Bone collagen quality indicators for palaeodietary and radiocarbon measurements. Journal of Archaeological Science 26(6):687–695.Google Scholar
Maruccio, L, Quarta, G, Braione, E, Calcagnile, L. 2017. Measuring stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes by IRMS and 14C by AMS on samples with masses in the microgram range: Performances of the system installed at CEDAD-University of Salento. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 421:1–7.Google Scholar
Quarta, G., D’Elia, M, Rizzo, GA, Calcagnile, L. 2005. Radiocarbon dilution effects induced by industrial settlements in southern Italy. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 240:458–462.Google Scholar
Quarta, G, Rizzo, GA, D’Elia, M, Calcagnile, L. 2007. Spatial and temporal reconstruction of the dispersion of anthropogenic fossil CO2 by 14C AMS measurement of plant material. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 259:421–425.Google Scholar
Ruff, M, Fahrni, S, Gäggeler, HW, Hajdas, I, Suter, M, Synal, H-A, Szidat, S, Wacker, L. 2010. On-line radiocarbon measurements of small samples using Elemental analyzer and MICADAS gas ion source. Radiocarbon 52(4):1645–1656.Google Scholar
Zhang, YL, Perron, N, Ciobanu, VG, Zotter, P, Minguillón, MC, Wacker, L, Prévôt, ASH, Baltensperger, U, Szidat, S. 2012. On the isolation of OC and EC and the optimal strategy of radiocarbon-based source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 12:10841.Google Scholar