Chemistry first, Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) second

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is the most sensitive analytical method to measure long-lived radionuclides. The detection limits are generally several orders of magnitude better, i.e. as low as 10^-16 (radionuclide/stable nuclide), than any other mass spectrometry or decay counting method. AMS needs smaller sample sizes and measurements are finished within a few minutes to hours; though after performing chemical separation of the radionuclide from the sample matrix (ice, snow, rain, ground water, marine sediments, soil, meteorites, deep-sea nodules, lava, rocks). Hence, AMS is right from the start, from sample taking over chemistry and measurements to data interpretation, true interdisciplinary research. Users at the DREAMS (DREsden AMS) facility (www.dresden-ams.de) apply AMS to most diverse projects from astrophysics to Earthquake studies.