Mass Spectrometry
The Mass Spectrometry Laboratory was established within the Discipline of Applied Physics in 1967.
SHRIMP II Mass Spectrometer (A)
The Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro Probe mass spectrometer depicted in the photograph is one of only about 10 such instruments operating anywhere in the world. It is regarded, without peer, for accurately measuring the age of rocks. This is achieved by extracting small crystals called zircons from rocks, mounting them in a form suitable for insertion in SHRIMP, and analysing the the resulting uranium and lead isotopes to enable the age of the host rock to be measured.
SHRIMP is located in the School of Physical Sciences at Curtin University of Technology, but is operated by a consortium of geologists and physicists from the Curtin University, the Geological Survey of Western Australia and the University of Western Australia. In addition to its value in zircon geochronogy it is capable of many applications, including the analysis of meteoritic material to discover the nuclear processes which caused the synthesis of the chemical elements in stars.
SHRIMP II Mass Spectrometer (B)
The Discipline now has two SHRIMP (Sensitive High Resolution Ion MicroProbe) mass spectrometers. The new SHRIMP B is a state-of-the-art secondary ion mass spectrometer capable of rapid in situ isotope and chemical analysis of natural and synthetic materials. It is used predominantly as a means of dating mineral samples using radiogenic isotopes, but can be applied to stable isotope studies also. The new SHRIMP has more automated features than SHRIMP A, and is unrivaled in terms of mass resolution and sensitivity.
VG-354 Mass Spectrometer
This instrument is fully automated and is fitted with 9-ion collectors for high precision measurements and a Daly collector for high sensitivity. Clean air laboratories are available for contamination free preparation of ultra small samples.
Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometers (TIMS) produced ions by evaporating atoms of the sample from a hot rhenium or tantalum metal surface. The isotopes are separated by a magnetic field and measured as small electric currents.
Microgram to femtogram (thousand million millionth of a gram) size quantities of an element can be analysed. Both the isotopic composition and concentration can be measured with high accuracy. Most samples require chemical processing before they can be analysed.
For more information you can access the Centre of Excellence in Mass Spectrometry website.