Preliminary AMS measurements of 10Be at the CENTA facility

Very sensitive methods, presently mainly accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) are necessary for analysis of cosmogenic 10Be in the environment. AMS is mainly limited by the stable isobar 10B, while the requirements for mass separation are the least stringent of all standard isotopes analyzed by AMS. We tested a possibility to measure 10Be using a small switching magnet as an analyzer of accelerated ions, and an ionization chamber with a silicon nitride foil stack used as a passive absorber. A detection limit of 10−12 for the 10Be/9Be isotopic ratio was obtained using this technique, which was mainly determined by scattering of 9Be+2 ions on residual gas inside the switching magnet.