Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-kwt9d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-13T08:03:57.906Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Developments in Radiocarbon Technologies: From the Libby Counter to Compound-Specific AMS Analyses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Pavel P Povinec*
Affiliation:
Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, SK-84248 Bratislava, Slovakia
A E Litherland
Affiliation:
University of Toronto, IsoTrace Laboratory, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada
Karl F von Reden
Affiliation:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, National Ocean Sciences AMS Facility, Geology and Geophysics Department, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
*
Corresponding author. Email: Povinec@fmph.uniba.sk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

We review developments in radiocarbon measuring techniques from the Libby counter through proportional gas counters and liquid scintillation spectrometers to the more recent developments of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), followed by a coupling of gas chromatography with AMS for compound-specific 14C analyses. While during the first 60 yr of 14C measurements beta counting, specifically gas counting, was the dominant technique, in the future of 14C science AMS will be the dominant technology.

Information

Type
Applications, Developments, and Historical Perspectives
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona