Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences

Facility

The MC-ICPMS laboratory in EPSS at UCLA is now under the direction of Professor Peng Ni. The new facility, replacing our original ThermoFinnigan Neptune mass spectrometer (MC-ICPMS), consists of a Nu Instruments Sapphire capable of directing ion beams along two distinct paths. The “High Energy Path” maintains the high ion energy through out the transfer optics before focusing into the defining slit of the double focusing mass spectrometer, retaining all the key performance of traditional MC-ICP-MS. The “Low Energy Path” diverts the ion beam along a second route to decelerate the beam into a collision/reaction cell. Low energy ions are reacted away in the collision cell by a gas or gas mixture, before the remaining ions get accelerated back to the high energy and focused into the defining slit of the double focusing mass spectrometer. The “Low Energy Path” makes it possible to measure isotopes of elements such as potassium and calcium that are difficult to measure with a traditional MC-ICPMS due to the Ar related interferences.