New compact AMS system to further promote ¹⁴C radiocarbon analyses

A novel tabletop accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) system has been installed in the ¹⁴C lab at Max Planck Institute for Bioeochemistry. The mini radiocarbon dating system (MICADAS) is based on a vacuum insulated acceleration unit that uses a commercially available 200 kV power supply to generate acceleration fields in a tandem configuration. Despite its small size of 2.6 x 3.2 m² the new radiocarbon spectrometer can measure all ¹⁴C concentrations needed for the research of the institute.

The new MICADAS system will enable higher sample throughput and, later on, smaller sample sizes. More technical details of the new machine will be presented at the ¹⁴C course from the 25th to the 29th September 2017, but can also be found in chapter 8 in the book Radiocarbon and Climate Change by E.A.G. Schuur, E.R.M. Druffel, and S.E. Trumbore (Eds.). Valérie Schwab at MPI for Biogeochemistry will serve as contact person for scientific users interested in analyzing smaller sample sizes.

MICADAS will replace the old machine with its large 3MV Tandetron accelerator, which has very successfully supported our research at our institute for many years.