HELGES – Clean Laboratory for Cosmogenic Nuclides

Within HELGES, we have more than 100 m² of clean lab space is available for separation of meteoric and terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides. We prepare wide-ranging sample substrates for meteoric cosmogenic nuclides (e.g. rocks, sediments, soils, river water, seawater, plants) and mainly quartz for terrestrial (in situ) cosmogenic nuclides (mainly ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al). Such clean lab methods are couple to mineral separation labs. The clean lab features other essential infrastructure like a centrifuge, ultrasonic bath, microbalance, hotplates etc. Low blanks and optimized methodologies means that AMS measurements of ¹⁰Be(meteoric)/⁹Be isotope ratios of routinely 1x10⁻¹⁴ are possible on 0.2 g of solid material and on 200 mL of river water. After purification, the cosmogenic nuclides are sent to the accelerator mass spectrometer in Cologne for measurement. Stable ⁹Be and other elements are analysed in-house using our Optical ICP-MS.