VERA, an AMS facility for all isotopes

VERA, the Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator, was equipped from the start in 1996 with magnets strong enough to bend all known isotopic species. However, considerable improvements were needed to allow AMS analysis of nuclides above mass 150, leading to an almost complete rebuild of the high-energy analyzer. After the analyzer magnet, a new high-resolution electrostatic analyzer (ESA) was installed. First measurements of Hf-182, U-236 and Pu-244 were successfully performed. The higher background suppression has brought along a significant improvement for Al-26 measurements, where a background of Al-26/Al-27 of similar to6x10(-16) is reached. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.