LDRIMS Geolocation and Nuclear Forensics Using a Real-Time Portable Charaterization Instrument

与激光解吸测量相关的共振电离质谱技术的基本物理学仍然未被充分探索，与其他方法相比，同位素测量的应用在很大程度上未经测试。当该技术首次实施时，激光器昂贵且难以使用，限制了该方法的最终应用。从那时起，激光器有了显着的发展，导致更低的成本，尺寸，功率，并增加易用性，使测量使用激光解吸作为质谱仪的基础。由于这些进步，二次电离方法可以接近100%的效率，实现十亿分之几的检测极限，并显着提高测量精度。 该提案扩展了对基本原子过程的基本物理理解，此外还探索了能够对痕量同位素和元素系统进行实时原位同位素测量的方法。初步结果表明，激光和质谱仪系统可以便携式实时现场使用，同时保持足够的精度和准确性，以实现地质年代学，地理定位，法医学，考古学，食品跟踪和研究核过程。该团队将让学生参与地质科学，物理学和地质年代学，共振电离和质谱工程，以支持这一努力。

The underlying physics of the resonance ionization mass spectrometric technique in association with laser desorption measurements remains under-explored, and the application to isotopic measurements largely untested when compared with other approaches. When the technique was first implemented, lasers were expensive and balky to use, limiting the ultimate application of the method. Since that time, lasers have evolved significantly, resulting in lower cost, size, power, and increased ease of use, enabling measurements using laser desorption as the basis for the mass spectrometer. Because of these advances, secondary ionization approaches can approach 100% efficiency, enabling sub-parts per billion detection limits, and significantly increased measurement precision. This proposal expands the basic physical understanding of the underlying atomic processes, in addition to exploring methods that could enable real-time in-situ isotopic measurements of trace isotopic and elemental systems. Initial results show that the laser and mass spectrometer systems could be made portable for real-time field use, while maintaining sufficient precision and accuracy for enabling geo-chronology, geo-location, forensics, archeology, food tracking, and studying nuclear processes. The team will engage students in the geologic science, physics, and engineering of geo-chronology, resonance ionization, and mass spectrometry in order to support this effort.