The Nu Instruments Attom ES HR-ICP-MS is coupled to an Applied Spectra RESOlution-SE 193nm excimer laser ablation system.The facility is a fast, highly sensitive instrument (i.e., <105ms), purposely designed to measure rapid and precise isotope ratio and quantitative analysis of trace elements in solid and liquid matrices. The primary focus of the HR-ICP-MS is on Uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating, which facilitates dating of much older things, e..g, rocks and minerals, which are in order of millions of years old.  

To produce dry plasma from solution we use a Cetac Aridus 3 desolvating nebuliser system. Calibration standards used are NIST610, NIST 612 and for in-situ U-Pb dating  we use the established matrix matched reference material WC-1 and are experimenting with a new reference material RA138.