A new AMS facility in Mexico

A new Accelerator Mass Spectrometry system has been installed at the Institute of Physics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). A sample preparation chemistry laboratory equipped with computer controlled graphitization equipment (AGEIII) has also been established. Together both facilities constitute the LEMA (Laboratorio de Espectrometría de Masas con Aceleradores) first of its kind in Mexico. High sensitivity characterization of the concentration in a sample of 14C as well as 10Be, 26Al, 129I and Pu are now possible. Since the demand for 14C dating is far more abundant, a data analysis program was developed in the cross-platform programming language Python in order to calculate radiocarbon age. Results from installation, acceptance tests and the first results of 14C analyses of reference materials prepared in our own facility are presented.