Unconventional radiogenic and stable isotopes

Since its inception, isotope geochemistry has had a tremendous influence on scientific thought; the Earth Sciences are the disciplines that have benefited most from it. In particular, solid-state mass spectrometry, or thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), has been used since the pioneering studies of A. Nier in the 1930s, who systematically analyzed the isotopic composition of solid elements to study parent-child radiogenic systematics, opening the door to determining rock ages, describing heterogeneities in the Earth's crust and mantle, and obtaining paleoclimate reconstructions.

Currently, TIMS mass spectrometry is used in a wide range of disciplines. In addition to earth and environmental sciences (geochronology, isotope geochemistry, pollutant tracking), other common applications are in food sciences, nuclear sciences, archaeological sciences (archaeometry), and forensic geology.

In the TIMS technique, the element to be analyzed must be separated from the matrix, typically in a cleanroom laboratory, loaded onto a thin Re or Ta filament, and then ionized in an ultra-vacuum source by the Joule effect. The resulting ions, mobilized and focused by electromagnetic fields, enter a magnetic separator, where they acquire different trajectories based on their mass/charge ratios. The ion beams are then analyzed in one or more detectors.