LLNL's Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry has been operation for more than 15 years. Operations include measurements of ³H, ¹⁰Be, ¹⁴C, ²⁶Al, ³⁶Cl, ⁴¹Ca, ¹²⁹I, ^233-238U, ^236-237Np and ^239-244Pu. Current status of the CAMS facility and routine operations will be described.

Current CAMS facility projects include the development/installation of three new beamlines and two new ion sources. One of the ion sources is a commercial NEC 40-sample gas-capable MCGSNICS ion source. The other is the fourth of CAMS in-house designed 64-sample Cs sputter negative ion source. The three beamlines include a complete refurbishment of the South 30° beamline that will continue to be used for microprobe-based research utilizing ion beams from our HVEC FN Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator. A second beamline will serve to connect our new NEC source to our 1 MV NEC Pelletron that is used for BioAMS research.  This injection beamline will include the capability for measurement of stable isotope ion currents with the goal of allowing the DC ratio measurement of, for example, high energy (1 MeV) ¹⁴C⁺ ions to low energy (40 keV) ¹²C^– ions. The third beamline will serve to connect the new CAMS ion source to the FN accelerator and will involve the installation of a new injection magnet and high-speed bouncer. The current plans for these developments will be discussed.

 

This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract W–7405–Eng–48.