The new AMS system at CEDAD for the analysis of 10Be, 26Al, 129I and actinides: Set-up and performances

The Centre for Dating and Diagnostics (CEDAD) at the University of Salento was established in 2001 and became fully operational for routine 14C radiocarbon dating in 2003. The facility has been continuously upgraded over the years with the installation of different beam lines for high energy ion implantation, IBA analyses both in vacuum and in air and nuclear microprobe. In 2011 a second AMS beamline was installed consisting of a dedicated high energy mass spectrometer for the AMS analysis of rare nuclides such as 10Be, 26Al, 129I and actinides. First tests on 10Be allowed to optimize the operating parameters resulting in the proper separation of 10Be from the interfering isobar 10B. In this paper we present the further tests and optimizations which resulted in an enhancement of the overall transmission efficiency, the reduction of the background (in the 10−15 range) and in the possibility to obtain precision levels in routine 10Be/9Be measurements of the order of 0.5%. Furthermore the first results obtained for the analysis of 26Al and 129I are also presented.