Accelerator mass spectrometry

Accelerator mass spectrometry
Accelerator mass spectrometer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
AcronymAMS
ClassificationMass spectrometry
AnalytesOrganic molecules
Biomolecules
Other techniques
RelatedParticle accelerator

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is a form of mass spectrometry that accelerates ions to extraordinarily high kinetic energies before mass analysis. The special strength of AMS among the different methods of mass spectrometry is its ability to separate a rare isotope from an abundant neighboring mass ("abundance sensitivity", e.g. 14C from 12C).[1] The method suppresses molecular isobars completely and in many cases can also separate atomic isobars (e.g. 14N from 14C). This makes possible the detection of naturally occurring, long-lived radio-isotopes such as 10Be, 36Cl, 26Al and 14C. (Their typical isotopic abundance ranges from 10−12 to 10−18.)

AMS can outperform the competing technique of decay counting for all isotopes where the half-life is long enough.[2] Other advantages of AMS include its short measuring time as well as its ability to detect atoms in extremely small samples.[3]

  1. ^ McNaught, A. D.; Wilkinson, A., eds. (1997). "Abundance sensitivity (in mass spectrometry)". Compendium of Chemical Terminology (2nd ed.). IUPAC. doi:10.1351/goldbook.A00048. ISBN 978-0-86542-684-9.
  2. ^ Budzikiewicz, H.; Grigsby, R. D. (2006). "Mass spectrometry and isotopes: A century of research and discussion". Mass Spectrometry Reviews. 25 (1): 146–157. Bibcode:2006MSRv...25..146B. doi:10.1002/mas.20061. PMID 16134128.
  3. ^ Hellborg, Ragnar; Skog, Göran (September 2008). "Accelerator mass spectrometry". Mass Spectrometry Reviews. 27 (5): 398–427. Bibcode:2008MSRv...27..398H. doi:10.1002/mas.20172. ISSN 0277-7037. PMID 18470926.