IsoGeoCam: Clean laboratories and multi-collector mass spectrometry laboratories

Photo of two people in a lab. On left, someone is pipetting into testubes. On right someone is using an instrument.

The Earth Sciences isotope facility houses two suites of metal-free clean laboratories for preparing geological and environmental samples, including one boron-free laboratory. These are class-1000 laboratory spaces equipped with full fume cupboards and class-100 laminar-flow clean cabinets, used for sample mineralisation and the chromatographic extraction of chemical elements ahead of isotopic measurement by thermal-ionisation mass spectrometry (TIMS) or multi-collector inductively-coupled-plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS).

The isotopic composition of purified samples is measured on one of our two Thermo Scientific Neptune Plus MC-ICP-MS instruments, or on our Thermo Scientific Triton Plus TIMS. Depending on the nature of the project, it may also be possible to use a Thermo Scientific Neoma MS/MS MC-ICP-MS instrument, which is equipped with a collision-reaction cell and an electronic pre-cell mass filter. All instruments are equipped with a range of 10¹⁰ Ω, 10¹¹ Ω, 10¹² Ω and 10¹³ Ω amplifier resistors connected to the Faraday cups, as well as a secondary electron multiplier for measuring low signal intensities, enabling high-precision isotope analyses across the periodic table.

The facility is open to visitors from other academic institutions who wish to analyse the isotopic composition of systems we routinely work with, such as Li, Mg, Fe, Sr and Nd. We particularly welcome PhD students and postdoctoral researchers who do not have access to an isotope facility at their own institution.

 

1. Academic Staff Member: Prof. Edward Tipper and Prof. Helen Williams.

2. Contact: Please email the laboratory managers, Dr Marie-Laure Bagard (MC-ICP-MS) and Dr Claudine Israel (TIMS, clean laboratories).