Laboratory technology and cosmochemistry
Laboratory technology and cosmochemistry
Ernst K. Zinner, Frederic Moynier, and Rhonda M. Stroud
PNAS 2011 108 (48) 19135-19141; published ahead of print April 15, 2011, doi:10.1073/pnas.1015118108
Recent developments in analytical instrumentation have led to revolutionary discoveries in cosmochemistry. Instrumental advances have been made along two lines: (i) increase in spatial resolution and sensitivity of detection, allowing for the study of increasingly smaller samples, and (ii) increase in the precision of isotopic analysis that allows more precise dating, the study of isotopic heterogeneity in the Solar System, and other studies. A variety of instrumental techniques are discussed, and important examples of discoveries are listed. Instrumental techniques and instruments include the ion microprobe, laser ablation gas MS, Auger EM, resonance ionization MS, accelerator MS, transmission EM, focused ion-beam microscopy, atom probe tomography, X-ray absorption near-edge structure/electron loss near-edge spectroscopy, Raman microprobe, NMR spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma MS.
