We maintain a facility for cosmogenic nuclide sample preparation for meteoric and in situ ²⁶Al and ¹⁰Be. This includes heavy liquid separation and cleaning of sample material with hydrochloric acid and hexasilicafluorid acid (HCl SiF₆) on shakers. Further leaching is carried out in low-concentrated hydrofluoric acid on hot dog rollers and in ultrasonic baths. Digestion of quartz-rich material is done on shaker tables and in a microwave digestion oven that ensure save operation. Ion-exchange …

Within HELGES we have a ISO 6 metal-free clean laboratory, dedicated entirely to blank-sensitive metal(loid) geochemistry. Numerous ISO 4 laminar flow hoods are available for the preparation of wide-ranging sample substrates for non-traditional stable isotope and concentration analysis, along with other essential infrastructure like a centrifuge, ultrasonic bath, microbalance, hotplates etc. Protocols established in the lab include (but are not limited to) Li, B, Mg, Si, K, Fe, Ni, Zn, Sr, and …

Samples of all kinds are pretreated in our sample preparation laboratories. Samples are usually first dried, sieved or separated into magnetic or non-magnetic components in a magnetic separator based on their magnetic properties. Separation based on different mineral densities is also carried out here. Rock samples are ground in a ball mill and then further processed in the clean room laboratory using wet chemical methods.

In the case of cosmogenic nuclide samples for the in situ-produced …