Initial Tests of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry with the Argonne Gas Filled Analyzer (AGFA) and the commissioning of the MONICA detector*

Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is a technique able to measure very low concentrations of a small amount of sample material.   For higher mass isotopes, dedicated AMS facilities are limited in their ability to adequately separate neighboring stable isobars, as these cases require higher energies. The Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) can accelerate isotopes to the energies required for the separation of high mass isobars, and the Argonne Gas-Filled Analyzer (AGFA) setup at ANL, specifically designed to study heavy and rare isotopes, has the necessary magnetic rigidity to facilitate their measurement. The first experiment utilizing AGFA for AMS through the separation of stable isobars 92Zr and 92Mo in November 2019 provided confidence this setup can be used successfully for AMS measurements. Since that time, MONICA, an 8-anode ionization chamber with the ability to measure both energy loss and position with the help of two sets of split anodes, has been developed to aid in the study of AMS at AGFA and has undergone four commissioning runs at the Nuclear Science Laboratory at Notre Dame utilizing Si, Fe, Zr, and Mn beams.  This report will present the 11/2019 AMS run at AGFA and the subsequent commissioning runs for the MONICA detector.