Laser Ablation System

Description

We wish to improve our laser ablation capabilities by replacing a 15 year old instrument that has seen excellent service. Important laser ablation applications have included reconnaissance U-Th dating of corals, spatially-resolved trace element analysis of biogenic marine carbonates, radiogenic Sr isotopic analysis of archaeological bones and teeth, in situ Rb-Sr dating of young igneous minerals, U-Pb dating and Hf isotopic analysis of zircons, Pb isotopic analysis of K-feldspars, micro-sampling meteoritic material and in situ detection of pre-solar grains in primitive meteorite matrices. Future work will continue to use these well-honed procedures as well as develop new applications (e.g. in situ boron isotopic measurements in carbonates). We want the new laser to represent a significant step forward in our laser ablation provision. In particular we are interested in: improved performance, notably smaller, usable spot sizes for detection of pre-solar grains, more efficient transfer of material from sample to mass-spectrometer, longer life UV-optical components, better optical imaging, next generation sample cell construction and effective, easy to use software.