Alphachron™ Features

The Alphachron™ MkII is a turnkey system for the automated extraction and measurement of radiogenic helium from mineral samples. The instrument integrates a laser-heating module with a gas-handling module and an optional quartz-halogen heating system. The system is delivered prefabricated and is ready to use for measurement after installation and minimal commissioning. After extraction of the helium by laser or quartz-haologen heating, the mineral grains are digested and analysed using standard ICP-MS techniques.

System Features

• High vacuum system consisting of rotary fore pump, molecular turbo pump with controller, and ion pump with controller;
• Quadropole mass spectrometer (QMS);
  • Range of mass magnitude: 1-100 amu;
  • Detector: Faraday/passage multiplier;
  • Detection limit: < 2×10^-11 mbar;
  • Sensitivity of Ar: > 5×10^-4/200 A/mbar;
• 4 SAES getters (2 installed, 2 spare) and getter activation power supply;
• Stainless steel high-vacuum line with automatic and manual valves;
• Automated X-Y laser stage with machine vision;
• 970 nm diode laser, lens system, power supply and safety shield;
• 3 x 3.3 litre stainless steel tanks with ³He spike, an analytical ⁴He standard, and a ⁴He reference standard;
• 25 sample capacity laser chamber with sapphire window;
• He diffusion cell option, (maximum operating T = 600°C) and integrated automation software;
• Dedicated computer system consisting of:
  • Pentium 4, 512 Mb RAM, 4 PCI slots, Windows XP
  • 2 channel serial card
  • National Instruments NI DIO 24 Card
  • Solenoid system and control panel for automatic valve control
• Alphachron system software/drivers for laser automation, gas handling and measurement of radiogenic helium;
• Installation and training;
• Data reduction /alpha correction software routines and spreadsheets;
• Instrument manuals;

Software Interface