Exploring the Evolving Universe

Equipment

Installed in 2005, the Agilent GC/MS is a laboratory workhorse, providing high transmission, high resolution scans up to 1050 u for maximum mass characterization. Quantitative analysis modes include SemiQuant, synchronous SIM/scan, plus qualitative analysis modes for rapid detection of ions and improved method design. The 5975's ability to provide rapid deconvolution, identification and quantification in complex matrices allows automated computer analysis for maximum analytical and cost efficiency. Agilent's online database of user software and methods makes contract analysis of complex samples more cost efficient.

Agilent 5975 Inert MSD Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS)

Over the past decade, a number of powerful methods have been developed for characterizing subsurface landscapes using devices placed on the surface of the earth.   Resistivity devices, for example, measure the amount of electrical energy that passes between two points in the ground.  Magnetometry tracks fluctuations in the earth’s magnetic field at points along the surface.  Ground penetrating radar units record the refection of radar waves as they transmitted. All of these units provide unique insight into subsurface structures that cannot be collected without expensive excavations.  IIRMES maintains a set of cutting-edge geophysical devices including Geometrics G-858 portable cesium sensor magnetometer, the Geometrics OhmMapper Capacitively Coupled Resistivity meter and GSSI’s SIRveyor SIR-20 GPR system.

IIRMES comprises five contiguous laboratories covering some 2,800sq. ft. of space housed in the basement of Peterson Hall 3 (PH3) within the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at CSULB. The centralization of the instrumentation helps foster an intellectual critical mass which not only promotes their effective utilization with minimum sample transport and disturbance, but also enhances cross-disciplinary collaboration. Details of the capital equipment and their applications are described below:

A Nanoscope III Multimode Scanning Probe Microscope from Veeco (previously Digital Instruments) is available for nano-scale metrology as well as scientific investigations.  Multimode SPM includes contact and tapping-mode atomic force microscope, magnetic force microscope, lateral force microscope, and scanning tunneling microscope.  SPM can measure atoms, molecules, and other nanoscale topographic, magnetic, and electric features with accuracy and precision and has established itself as a premier tool in nanotechnology.  The instrument has a sample heater with a fluid cell that provides in-situ heating and temperature control up to 50°C for samples in air and fluids.

IIRMES is currently establishing a luminescence lab for the dating of ceramics, lithics, and sediments.  Luminescence dating is a rapidly expanding field. Recent advances in technique and instrumentation have improved both the accuracy and precision of the method, with the result that luminescence dating is becoming an important method in Quaternary science. The advantage luminescence dating has over other techniques is the ability to date directly events of archaeological and geological interest: the last heating of ceramics and lithics and the last exposure of light for sediments. This often eliminates the need for associational arguments and the uncalibrated loss of accuracy involved therein. Equipment that will be installed includes a state-of-the-art Risø TL/OSL-DA-15 combined TL/OSL reader.  The TL/OSL-DA-15 unit is fully automated unit with 48-sample capacity. In addition, to the luminescence reader IIRMES runs 2 Littlemore alpha counters and a calibrated Sr-90 source.