In 2019 Novosibirsk State University took possession of a MICADAS accelerating mass spectrometer (AMS) that determines the radiocarbon age of bioorganic samples, including milligram mass. The Swiss company Ionplus manufactures the unique MICADAS (Mini Radiocarbon Dating System). Until 2019, only one of these machines was operating in Russia. T That AMS has been in use since 2011 at the Institute of Nuclear Physics (INP) SB RAS. To support the development of dating and rare isotopes research and increase the effectiveness of work with Russian and foreign customers, both devices will be combined into a single collective use center “AMS NSU-INP”. This center will include a number of other Akademgorodok institutes.
Ekaterina Parkhomchuk, Assistant Professor at the Natural Sciences Department Physical Chemistry Section and Senior Researcher at NSU Physics Department’s Laboratory of Radiocarbon Methods of Analysis, talked about this equipment’s capabilities,
The uniqueness of this piece of equipment is that it uses a direct method for counting rare isotope atoms, in particular C-14, which is not associated with radioactivity. The C-14 isotope is extremely small, - 10-10% of the total carbon content (i.e., 1012 C-12 atoms account for one C-14 atom), in the environment (biosphere). The conventional mass spectrometers that are widely used in laboratories cannot detect such a low content since their sensitivity limit is no lower than 10-5%. The accuracy of the AMS method is so high that it allows reliable measurements of C-14 isotope concentration at a fraction of 10-1 3%, which is a thousand times lower than the natural content of the C-14 isotope in the biosphere, while 1 mg of carbon is sufficient for an AMS analysis.
According to the researchers, before the appearance of the AMS, the content of radiocarbon was determined using a scintillation counter that registers particles emitted from atoms during radioactive decay. This requires at least 1 g of carbon. There are currently approximately 100 AMS centers in the world. Parkhomchuk provided more details about their new machine,
The Russian machine has 1 MV of power and can detect a number of rare isotopes, not only C-14, but, for example, Be-10 and Al-26. This new Swiss MICADAS device has 5 times less power (200 kV) and is designed to register only the C-14, but is better than ours in a number of its functional solutions.
The Akademgorodok center is registered in the international registry of radiocarbon laboratories as the AMS Golden Valley Laboratory so that the results obtained at the collective use center can be published in the best international scientific journals. In 2019, scientists analyzed approx. 1,000 research samples including bones and ancient bone products, wood, soil, peat, bottom sediments, shells, and carbon deposits from ceramics. The first results from the new Swiss machine are in agreement with the data from the Russian AMS.
Parkhomchuk described their plans,
This year we will bring the new device into stable operation, verify the two AMSs and two types of sample preparation, and undergo international cross-testing. Once every few years, this is a standard procedure for all radiocarbon laboratories so ours will take place in 2020. Also, we will work with radiocarbon-labeled objects, for example, last year we conducted successful experiments on labeling particles of influenza virus to register viruses in the body of laboratory mice. This year we plan to begin joint work with oncovirus specialists.
Scientists who coordinate the operation of the equipment work with a wide variety of institutions and groups of interested parties such as archaeologists, representatives of the investigative committee, and schoolchildren. This year, joint research using the equipment is planned with other Russian universities, research institutes, schools, local history museums, and other organizations.
