Speaker
Description
Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) has become a routine instrument for elemental/isotopic analysis. PNNL has made simple modifications to such instruments to collect single or multiple isotopes. Commercial instruments are now widely available and the latest benchtop systems offer high level isotope isolation performance >99.999%. While mass selected ion currents are still relatively low ~10-100 nA, the approach is perfect for preparing ultra-pure isotopes on the ng-µg scale and may be easily adapted to collect single or multiple isotopes. The atmospheric pressure RF Ar Plasma readily accommodates source materials in any form (gas, liquid or solid) and will ionize most elements quite efficiently with little or no changes to the ICP ion source. We will present experimental results illustrating the application of ICP-MS isotope purification utilizing quadrupole and magnetic sector based systems. This will include examples of the excellent isotopic purity that can be obtained for stable and radioactive isotopes. Additionally, benefits to α, γ and β spectrometry will be presented where very low ion energy deposition, and isotopic purity improve the subsequent radiometric measurements.