Noble Gas Laboratory

Contact: Masahiko.Honda@anu.edu.au Tel: +61 2 61254234

VG5400 noble gas mass spectrometer

Noble gases, helium, neon, argon, krypton and xenon, are extracted from geological samples by a resistively-heated, double vacuum tantalum furnace, enabling to heat as much as 2100°C, or by an air actuated-type vacuum crusher. After extraction, the gases are cleaned of active species (such as H2O, CO2, H2 etc.) by exposure to a series of getters.

They are then cryogenically separated from each other, and sequentially inlet to a high sensitivity VG5400 noble gas mass spectrometer for isotopic and abundance determinations. The RSES noble gas laboratory is especially focused on research on noble gas geochemistry and cosmogenic noble gas surface exposure dating. A new generation multi-collector mass spectrometer HELIX-MC is expected to be delivered in 2008.