Community Facility Support: The UCLA National Ion Microprobe

该奖项将为加州大学洛杉矶分校离子微探针设施的持续支持提供资金。该奖项使该实验室能够保持世界领先的地质材料原位微尺度同位素分析设施，并向更广泛的社区提供其能力，以解决地球和行星科学中的重要问题。在NSF EAR仪器和设备支持的过程中，该设施接待了数百名科学家和学生，他们的研究与我们自己的研究一起对地球科学产生了重大影响。在运营开放式设施的同时，该团队努力成为科学创新和同类学科开创性应用的领导者，并在科学教育中产生广泛影响。该实验室的科学专业知识和仪器基础设施能力仍处于同位素地球科学研究的前沿，这笔拨款的支持将使该实验室继续作为国家离子微探针设施运作，以促进地球科学的进步。该设施在国家地球科学基础设施中的主要作用是在二次离子质谱（SIMS）辅助矿物测年方面发挥领导作用。随着科学研究朝着探测更小的空间尺度发展，承载地质时计系统的矿物行为出现了新的复杂性，特别强调了ims1290仪器的高横向分辨率能力。还需要对相关同位素、元素和矿物学性质进行高分辨率分析，以调查和解释代理“环境”记录，无论它们是编码在早期地球、生物圈还是其他行星体上的样品中。在此资助期内，该设施将把大多数应用转移到具有超高空间分辨率和高精度分析能力的最先进的ims1290，并开始强调远程操作。已有30年历史的ims1270仪器将仅限于利基分析，并开始逐步淘汰。研究人员将进一步发展矿物包裹体岩石学、副矿物高分辨率离子成像和副矿物地球化学，研究锆石中的锡作为潜在的温度计/氧晴雨表，分析返回的地外样本（龙宫和贝努小行星），并完善∆36S的高精度分析。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award will provide funding for the continued support of the UCLA ion microprobe facility. The award permits the laboratory to maintain a world-leading facility for in situ microscale isotopic analyses of geologic materials and to provide access to its capabilities to the broader community to address important problems in Earth and planetary science. Over the course of NSF EAR Instrumentation and Facilities support, the facility has hosted many hundreds of scientists and students whose research, along with our own, has had a significant impact in the Earth sciences. While operating an open facility, the team strives to be a leader in scientific innovation and in pioneering applications in cognate disciplines, and one that has a broad impact in science education. The scientific expertise and instrumental infrastructure capabilities of this laboratory remain at the leading edge of isotopic geoscience investigations and support of this grant will permit the laboratory to continue to operate as a national ion microprobe facility to promote progress in geosciences. The principal role of this facility within the national geoscience infrastructure has been in providing leadership in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) accessory mineral dating. As scientific investigations have evolved towards probing ever smaller spatial scales, new complexities in the behavior of minerals hosting geochronometric systems have emerged, placing special emphasis on the high lateral resolution capabilities of the ims1290 instrument. High-resolution analyses of correlated isotopic, elemental, and mineralogical properties are also required to investigate and interpret proxy ‘environmental’ records, whether they are encoded in samples originating on the early Earth, in the biosphere, or on other planetary bodies. In this funding period, the facility will shift most applications to the state-of-the-art ims1290 with its ultra-high spatial resolution and capacity for high precision analyses and begin to emphasize remote operation. The now 30 year old ims1270 instrument will be limited to niche analyses and begin to be phased out. The research staff will further develop mineral inclusion petrology, high resolution ion imaging of accessory minerals, and accessory mineral geochemistry, investigate tin in zircon as a potential thermometer/oxybarometer, analyze returned extraterrestrial sample (asteroids Ryugu and Bennu), and refine high precision analyses of ∆36S.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.