A COMPACT C-14 ISOTOPE RATIO MASS-SPECTROMETER FOR BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS

During the last two decades the unparalleled sensitivity of accelerato r mass spectrometry (AMS) has allowed major developments in many areas of geoscience and archeology. It is projected that in the near future a similar potential for AMS expansion is likely in the field of biome dical research leading, ultimately, to clinical applications. As an ex ample of the growth of this new field, at the Lawrence Livermore Natio nal Laboratory Center for AMS the number of biomedical C-14 measuremen ts already represents a significant fraction of the total for all C-14 . Widespread adoption of AMS in the biomedical field does require, how ever, the availability of instruments that are small in comparison wit h existing AMS systems and that will operate in a manner that is simpl e and user-friendly. To meet this demand, High Voltage Engineering Eur opa (HVEE) has developed a miniature, high-efficiency AMS instrument d esigned to provide for biomedical samples C-14/C-12 ratios with an acc uracy better than 2% and with backgrounds limitations below 0.1 Modem. The current status of this program will be presented in the present p aper.