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A setup for ion-laser interaction was coupled to the state-of-the-art AMS facility VERA five years ago and its potential and applicability as a new means of isobar suppression in accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) has since been explored. Laser photodetachment and molecular dissociation processes of anions provide unprecedented isobar suppression factors of >1010 for several established AMS isotopes like 36Cl or 26Al and give access to new AMS isotopes like 90Sr, 135Cs or 182Hf at a 3-MV-tandem facility. Furthermore, Ion-Laser InterAction Mass Spectrometry has been proven to meet AMS requirements regarding reliability and robustness with a typical reproducibility of results of 3%. The benefits of the technique are in principle available to any AMS machine, irrespective of attainable ion beam energy. Since isobar suppression via this technique is so efficient, there often is no need for any additional element separation in the detection setup and selected nuclides may even become accessible without accelerator at all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1889 the German poet and novelist Theodor Fontane wrote the popular literary ballad “Herr von Ribbeck auf Ribbeck im Havelland.” The Squire von Ribbeck is described as a gentle and generous person, who often gives away pears from his pear trees to children passing by and continued donating pears after his death. Now, 135 years later the rock called Ribbeck is giving us insight into processes that happened 4.5 billion years ago. The meteorite Ribbeck (official find location: 52°37′15″N, 12°45′40″E) fell January 21, 2024, and has been classified as a brecciated aubrite. This meteoroid actually entered the Earth's atmosphere at 00:32:38 UTC over Brandenburg, west of Berlin, and the corresponding fireball was recorded by professional all sky and video cameras. More than 200 pieces (two proved by radionuclide analysis to belong to this fresh fall) were recovered totaling about 1.8 kg. Long‐lived radionuclide and noble gas data are consistent with long cosmic ray exposure (55–62 Ma) and a preatmospheric radius of Ribbeck between 20 and 30 cm. The heavily brecciated aubrite consists of major (76 ± 3 vol%) coarse‐grained FeO‐free enstatite (En99.1Fs<0.04Wo0.9), with a significant abundance (15.0 ± 2.5 vol%) of albitic plagioclase (Ab95.3 An2.0Or2.7), minor forsterite (5.5 ± 1.5 vol%; Fo99.9) and 3.5 ± 1.0 vol% of opaque phases (mainly sulfides and metals) with traces of nearly FeO‐free diopside (En53.2Wo46.8) and K‐feldspar (Ab4.6Or95.4). The rock has a shock degree of S3 (U‐S3), and terrestrial weathering has affected metals and sulfides, resulting in the brownish appearance of rock pieces and the partial destruction of certain sulfides already within days after the fall. The bulk chemical data confirm the feldspar‐bearing aubritic composition. Ribbeck is closely related to the aubrite Bishopville. Ribbeck does not contain solar wind implanted gases and is a fragmental breccia. Concerning the Ti‐ and O‐isotope compositions, the data are similar to those of other aubrites. They are also similar to E chondrites and fall close to the data point for the bulk silicate Earth (BSE). Before the Ribbeck meteoroid entered Earth's atmosphere, it was observed in space as asteroid 2024 BX1. The aphelion distance of 2024 BX1's orbit lies in the innermost region of the asteroid belt, which is populated by the Hungaria family of minor planets characterized by their E/X‐type taxonomy and considered as the likely source of aubrites. The spectral comparison of an average large‐scale emission spectrum of Mercury converted into reflectance and of the Ribbeck meteorite spectrum does not show any meaningful similarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sensitive analysis of 90 Sr with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) was developed to advance environmental radiology. One advantage of AMS is the ability to analyze environmental samples with 90 Sr/ 88 Sr atomic ratios of 10 -14 in following a simple chemical separation. Three different IAEA samples with known 90 Sr concentrations (moss-soil, animal bone, Syrian soil: 1 g each) were analyzed to assess the validity of the chemical separation and the AMS measurement. The 90 Sr measurements were conducted on the AMS system VERA combined with the Ion Laser InterAction Mass Spectrometry (ILIAMS) setup at the University of Vienna, which has excellent isobaric separation performance. The isobaric interference of 90 Zr in the 90 Sr AMS was first largely removed by chemical separation. The separation factor of Zr in two-step column chromatography with Sr resin and anion exchange resin was 10 6 . The 90 Zr remaining in the sample was effectively suppressed by ILIAMS. This procedure achieved a limit of detection <0.1 mBq in the 90 Sr AMS, which is lower than typical β-ray detection. The agreement between AMS measurements and nominal values for the 90 Sr concentrations of IAEA samples indicated that the new highly-sensitive 90 Sr analysis in the environmental samples with AMS is reliable.