Accelerator Mass Spectrometry: Ultra-sensitive Detection Technique of Long-lived Radionuclides

Abstract

An introduction is given to accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) technology, to the fundamental measurement principles, and the physics aspects behind the design constrain of AMS instruments. This article shall give an overview on technical design constraints of AMS instrumentation, general ion optical principles, and nuclide specific problems. The historic development of AMS detection techniques is briefly summarized. The wide variety of applications connected to the AMS technology are not discussed.