(U-Th-Sm)/He Laboratory

The (U-Th)/He laboratory was established in 2000 with apatite, zircon and titanite being routinely analysed. He outgassing is conducted using a semiconductor diode Coherent Quattro FAP laser with fibre optic coupling to the sample chamber, with He content measured using a Balzers quadrupole (QMS 200-Prisma) mass spectrometer. Analysis for parent U, Th and Sm isotopes is carried out using an Agilent 7700X inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS).