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Pushing the Precision Limit of 14C AMS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Peter Steier ,
Franz Dellinger ,
Walter Kutschera ,
Alfred Priller ,
Werner Rom  and
Eva Maria Wild
Peter Steier*
Affiliation:
Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA), Institut für Isotopenforschung und Kernphysik, Universität Wien, Währinger Strasse 17, A-1090 Wien, Austria.
Franz Dellinger
Affiliation:
Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA), Institut für Isotopenforschung und Kernphysik, Universität Wien, Währinger Strasse 17, A-1090 Wien, Austria.
Walter Kutschera
Affiliation:
Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA), Institut für Isotopenforschung und Kernphysik, Universität Wien, Währinger Strasse 17, A-1090 Wien, Austria.
Alfred Priller
Affiliation:
Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA), Institut für Isotopenforschung und Kernphysik, Universität Wien, Währinger Strasse 17, A-1090 Wien, Austria.
Werner Rom
Affiliation:
Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA), Institut für Isotopenforschung und Kernphysik, Universität Wien, Währinger Strasse 17, A-1090 Wien, Austria.
Eva Maria Wild
Affiliation:
Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA), Institut für Isotopenforschung und Kernphysik, Universität Wien, Währinger Strasse 17, A-1090 Wien, Austria.
*
Corresponding author. Email: peter.steier@univie.ac.at.
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Abstract

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High precision for radiocarbon cannot be reached without profound insight into the various sources of uncertainty which only can be obtained from systematic investigations. In this paper, we present a whole series of investigations where in some cases 16O:17O:18O served as a substitute for 12C:13C:14C. This circumvents the disadvantages of event counting, providing more precise results in a much shorter time. As expected, not a single effect but a combination of many effects of similar importance were found to be limiting the precision.

We will discuss the influence of machine tuning and stability, isotope fractionation, beam current, space charge effects, sputter target geometry, and cratering. Refined measurement and data evaluation procedures allow one to overcome several of these limitations. Systematic measurements on FIRI-D wood show that a measurement precision of ±20 14C yr (1 σ) can be achieved for single-sputter targets.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 46 , Issue 1: Proceedings of the 18th International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 1 of 2), Conference Editors: Nancy Beavan Athfield, Rodger J Sparks , 2004 , pp. 5 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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