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Current Sample Preparation and Analytical Capabilities of the Radiocarbon Laboratory at CologneAMS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2019

J Rethemeyer ,
M Gierga ,
S Heinze ,
A Stolz ,
A Wotte ,
P Wischhöfer ,
S Berg ,
JO Melchert  and
A Dewald
J Rethemeyer*
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
M Gierga
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
S Heinze
Affiliation:
Institute of Nuclear Physics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
A Stolz
Affiliation:
Institute of Nuclear Physics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
A Wotte
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
P Wischhöfer
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
S Berg
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
JO Melchert
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
A Dewald
Affiliation:
Institute of Nuclear Physics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. Email: janet.rethemeyer@uni-koeln.de.
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Abstract

This work summarizes the methodical capabilities, improvements, and new developments in the radiocarbon laboratory of the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facility at the University of Cologne, Germany, which was established in 2010. During the past years, the laboratory has specialized in the analysis of small and gaseous samples. We thus, recently installed a second ion source dedicated for radiocarbon (14C) analysis of CO2 samples at our 6 MV Tandetron AMS from High Voltage Engineering Europe B.V. that is coupled with the gas injection system from Ionplus and an EuroVector EA 3000 elemental analyzer. This work summarizes all pretreatment methods and analytical facilities established in our laboratory during the last years including 14C analysis of individual organic compounds and of CO2 trapped on molecular sieves. We also report different blank values including our long-term blank since 2011, which is for normal-sized, solid samples (650–1000 µg C) 0.0012 ± 0.0004 F14C (54,305 ± 2581 yr BP, n = 484). The precision obtained for modern samples measured as graphite is 0.5% and for gaseous samples injected with the GIS ≤2%.

Keywords

AMS radiocarbonradiocarbon sample preparationstatus report
Type
Conference Paper
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 61 , Issue 5: Radiocarbon 2018 Conference Proceedings Trondheim, Norway, June 17–22, 2018 Part 1 of 2 , October 2019 , pp. 1449 - 1460
Copyright
© 2019 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 23rd International Radiocarbon Conference, Trondheim, Norway, 17–22 June, 2018

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