After a fair bit of frustration, our new excimer laser is installed! We have it coupled to an Element 2, and new laser plus sector magnet (rather than quadupole) mass spectrometry is a steep learning curve for me. Nice to spend the afternoon tinkering in the lab though.
We got our first external contribution to our TACtool software!
TACtool is a desktop GUI tool for planning micro-analysis (e.g. via microprobe or LA-ICP-MS). Users mark the target points, then TACTool produces a CSV of their coordinates to load into the machine.
https://github.com/BritishGeologicalSurvey/tactool
The merge request adds a user guide to loading the CSV into ESI laser control software.
#tactool #britishgeologicalsurvey #opensource #mineralogy #laicpms #microprobe #sem #geology
TACtool is a desktop GUI tool for targeting and co-ordinating sampling points for microanalysis, using spatially resolved imagery, enabling their import directly into sampling systems such as a las...
Looking for opinions on which 193 nm excimer laser ablation unit to get to couple with our Element 2 for high-res analysis trace and minor elements in carbonates (esp. speleothems). Trying to choose between RESOlution or ESL. If any geochemists/LAICPMS afficonados on here have OPINIONS on either of these (good or bad), please drop me a line!
Is it even a day in the laser lab if you don't spend 6 hours troubleshooting before collecitng any data? I don't think so!
The Bandelier Tuff (New Mexico) ejected perhaps 800 cubic km of magma and rock in two events a little over 1 million years ago.
Trace elements in #quartz make it glow in an electron beam (cathode luminescence). The outer bright blue rims in CL record crystallization temperatures (from Ti concentrations) abruptly 100°C hotter than before: magma recharge triggering a #supereruption.
Jack Wilcock's M.Sc. work (John Stix's group).
#MinCup23 #Caldera #Volcano #NewMexico #LAICPMS #CL
Another LAICPMS day, another totally new (to us!) problem. This supports my hypothesis that LAICPMS NEVER goes smoothly. No one cried though, so it could have been worse!
Lab days are an exercise in zen. Nothing like watching all the careful organisation go out the window. Of course, not preparing isn't an option either.
LA-ICP-MS is temporally wild. It somehow manages to be both incredibly fast (getting the data!) and incredibly slow (processing the data!). Staving of frustration by reminding myself that this is thousands of years of data, and if it takes a day to process, well that's still really, really, quick!
Dr Micha Campbell
Dr John A Stevenson
Bill Minarik
Diego González
Annabirdian