Research and Development of the Artemis 14C AMS Facility: Status Report

Abstract

The Artemis accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facility is dedicated to high-precision radiocarbon measurements. It routinely measures over 4500 samples a year for French laboratories. This paper is a status report, showing the measurements of standard, blank, and FIRI intercomparison samples. Since 2008, research and development programs have been established by the Artemis team. During the collaborations with other research laboratories, intercomparisons on archaeological samples were performed and are listed here to show the quality of the Artemis measurements. Three areas of specific research and development are investigated: technical development, beam optic simulations, and specific archaeological studies. The technical developments of the facility are based on the setup of a new bench for water sample preparation and routine microsample preparation and measurement. Beam optic simulations are carried out to control the quality of the measurement related to the tuning of the facility. International collaborations are always in progress. In 2012, the programs include improving the accuracy of reigns for the dynastic Egypt period and the 14C dating of ancient iron.