The (U-Th-Sm)/He lab is equipped with an Alphachron automated system for helium measurement. We routinely measure 2 laser pans of 24 aliquots each in automatic mode in 1 week. We collaborate with PD Dr. Johannes Glodny in section 3.1 at the German Research Centre for Geosciences; he is responsible for sample dissolution and analysis of U, Th and Sm using ICP-MS. At present, we analyze both apatites and zircons.

The Potsdam ⁴He/³He Thermochronology Laboratory at the University of Potsdam, Germany is dedicated to high-precision measurement of ⁴He and ³He noble gas abundances and isotopic ratios (i.e. ⁴He³He) in U-bearing accessory minerals such as apatite.
The laboratory is equipped with a Helix SFT Thermo Scientific mass spectrometer recently acquired and funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The Helix SFT is connected to a Thermo extraction and purification Prepline dedicated to mineral …

The Electron Microprobe lab offers non-destructive chemical analyses of solids using a JEOL JXA-8200 Electron Probe Microanalyzer (EPMA) with an EDX detector. The microprobe is capable of quantitatively measuring the abundance of all elements from C to U using five wavelength-dispersive spectrometers (WDS) and an energy-dispersive X-Ray spectrometer (EDX) for rapid analyses. This analytical technique combines micron-scale chemical analyses with scanning electron microscopy and is capable of …

The lab is equipped with a Leica DMR microscope with a drawing tube, a Kinetek computer-driven stage, a Calcomp digitizing tablet, and FT Stage software. A video camera is mounted on the triaxial head of the microscope, allowing a group of people to observe a slide simultaneously. At present, we are only analyzing apatites. However, we plan on analyzing zircons in the future.

The sample preparation laboratories provide facilities to prepare geological samples for a wide range of analytical methods. These include mineral separations for geochronologic analysis, mineral powders for geochemical analysis and polished thin sections for microscopy.

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is designed for fast analytical and micro-morphological investigation of surfaces. The lab is running a JEOL JSM-6510 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) (W-filament, 0.5-30 kV acceleration voltage) combined with an Oxford Instrument INCAx-act detector (Energy Dispersive X-Ray spectrometer, EDX) for fast analytical and micro-morphological investigations. The maximum sample size is 32 mm in diameter; spatial resolution of the SEM down to 3 nm (30 kV). Two …

X-Ray Powder diffraction is a non-destructive technique for phase- and Rietveld analysis of crystalline materials. It is used for the determination of detailed phase composition, quantitative Rietveld analysis, nanocrystallite-sizes, lattice parameters, amorphous content, and 1d-Mappings. The lab is equipped with an Empyrean powder X-Ray diffractometer (Panalytical), working in reflection (Bragg-Brentano) or transmission theta-theta geometry. It is equipped with a Cu-tube, a fast PIXcel 1d …