Oana Gâza and Tiberiu Sava (Romania): Research at the Centre for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) in Bucharest

The AMS center in Bucharest was founded in 2013, relying on a High Voltage 1 MV Tandetron particle accelerator and the associated sample preparation laboratory. With this multi-isotopic AMS machine the routinely analyzed species are ¹⁴C, ¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al and ¹²⁹I, while recently different tests were performed to determine isotopic ratios in actinide species (^239,240,242Pu, ²³⁶U). Radiocarbon remains the isotope with the largest share within our measurements, enabling studies in archaeology, environment and cultural heritage. A niche position in our radiocarbon analysis is represented by the dating of single aminoacids resulting from the separation of collagen extracted from potentially risky bone material using a High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method. Beside the radiocarbon applications we present also some research examples of using isotopic ratios of ¹⁰Be/⁹Be, ²⁶Al/²⁷Al and ¹²⁹I/¹²⁷I for paleo-reconstruction of glaciers and oceanography, respectively.