Post date: Dec 02, 2012 8:20:39 PM
The Facility recently acquire an ARGUS VI (Thermofisher), a new generation low volume Multiple Collector Noble Gas Mass Spectrometers (MC-NG-MS) equipped with 5 faraday cups and one CDD multiplier that has recently become commercially available, offering three advantages. Their first advantage is a better sensitivity of the new generation of CDD electron multipliers and 1012-ohm resistor faraday collectors. This allows the measurement of a larger dynamic range of Ar ion beam signal on much smaller (and thus likely purer) and younger sample aliquots. Their second advantage is the ability to measure the 36Ar on the CDD multiplier while other masses are measured on the faraday detectors, resulting in analytical precision one order of magnitude better than with previous generation instruments. Their third advantage is much faster sample analysis (i.e., 30-35 analyses/day compared to the current 10-12 analyses/day for single collector instruments. A new dedicated low volume Noble Gas extraction line capable of collecting and cleaning the gas extracted from a variety of samples, using a PhotonMachine CO2 laser capable of delivering a homogenous laser beam of up to 6mm wide, is attached to the ARGUS VI mass spectrometer.