T04_P02

New Installations at ¹⁴CHRONO, Queen’s University Belfast: Ionplus MICADAS (Mini Carbon Dating System) and AGE (Automated Graphitisation Equipment) system upgrades

Barrett G¹, Allen K¹, Blaauw M¹, Reimer R¹, Reimer P¹

¹14Chrono, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom

A laboratory upgrade, carried out in 2021, featured the installation of an Ionplus MICADAS, replacing a National Electrostatics Corporation 0.5MeV compact AMS system that had been in operation since 2007, and an Ionplus AGE, enhancing our existing graphitization capabilities.  Post-installation validation tests for a range of intercomparison samples, secondary standards and backgrounds are presented and demonstrate agreement with consensus values and/or long-term measurements on our previous machine.  A series of replicate measurements on 15 unknowns (bone and sediment) with well-distributed radiocarbon ages spanning approx. 170-12000 yr BP, previously measured with our NEC AMS on graphite from our zinc reduction line, is also presented; again, there is excellent agreement between both sets of measurements.