X-RAY SPECTROMETRY X-Ray Spectrom. 2008; 37: 178–183 Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/xrs.1059 Benefits of combined PIXE and AMS with new accelerators † Guy Demortier, * Gianluca Quarta, Karim Butalag, Marisa D’Elia and Lucio Calcagnile CEDAD (Centro di Datazione e Diagnostica), Department of Engineering of Innovation, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100, Lecce, Italy Received 29 May 2007; Revised 10 October 2007; Accepted 15 November 2007 Combination of the elemental nondestructive analysis of artifacts by ion beam analysis (IBA) multielemental techniques (but mostly PIXE) with the accelerator mass spectroscopy (AMS) measurement of the age of the organic material discovered in the close vicinity of these artifacts (mainly available for recent excavations) gives new tools to archaeologists to improve their diagnosis in the study of the composition of ancient objects and of their workmanship in ancient times by using the same experimental facility for IBA and AMS. For potteries and metallic samples, IBA and AMS are to be applied on different samples excavated in the same environment but for organic archaeological samples, IBA and AMS techniques could be sequentially used on the same material. Results of these combined techniques on artifacts of various origins recently studied at CEDAD (CEntro di Datatione e Diagnostica), University of Salento, Lecce, Italy, are presented. Copyright  2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. INTRODUCTION Particle-induced x-ray emission (PIXE) and associated ion beam analysis (IBA) techniques for the study of archaeo- logical artifacts are now widely used by interdisciplinary teams. These nondestructive surface techniques were gener- ally performed with single ended particle accelerators in the late 1970s when external beams became available in nuclear physics laboratories involved in applications to archaeo- logical problems. New facilities, especially in Europe, are now available with tandem accelerators using negative inci- dent ions and are often equipped with microprobes in- and outside-vacuum target ports. These negative ion sources allowing elimination of nitrogen ions from the 14 C beams are also used to implement the performances in dating of organic materials by comparison with the time-consuming procedure involving the counting of low-energy and low- intensity ˇ particles. The implementation concerns the lower quantity of necessary material to be consumed as well as the determination of all accessible ages. THE AMS-IBA FACILITY AT CEDAD The CEntro di Datatione e Diagnostica (CEDAD) is a mul- tidisciplinary research facility devoted to the development and the application of nuclear-based methods in different research fields such as cultural heritage diagnostics, envi- ronmental, material and earth sciences. 1 The center is based on a 3-MV 4130HC Tandetron accelerator, manufactured by L Correspondence to: Guy Demortier, CEDAD (Centro di Datazione e Diagnostica), Department of Engineering of Innovation, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100, Lecce, Italy. E-mail: guy.demortier@tvcablenet.be † Presented at 11th International Conference on Particle Induced X-ray Emission and its Analytical Applications, PIXE 2007, Puebla, Mexico, 25–29 May 2007. High Voltage Engineering Europa B.V., and equipped with five experimental beam lines for AMS (accelerator mass spec- trometry) radiocarbon dating, high energy ion implantation, in vacuum and in air IBA and -PIXE. The AMS for radiocarbon dating is in full operation since 2003. 2 The AMS spectrometer is essentially constituted by a Cs sputtering ion source (HVEE 846B), a low energy sequential injector and a high energy mass spectrometer. A 20–30 μA, 35-keV C  carbon beam, extracted from a 2-mm large solid graphite cathode in the ion source, is energy and mass analyzed in the low-energy mass spectrometer before being injected into the accelerator where it is accelerated by a 2.5-MV terminal voltage toward the high energy spectrometer. Along the high energy spectrometer the most abundant 3 C charge state is selected and the 10 MeV carbon ions are analyzed by a 110 ° , double focusing magnet. 12 C 3C and 13 C 3C beam currents are then measured by two Faraday cups while the 14 C 3C ions are further energy and mass analyzed by a 33 ° electrostatic deflector and a 90 ° magnet before being counted in a gas ionization detector. The system has shown, over the years, reproducible precision levels of 0.3–0.4% and 0.05–0.1% on the 14 C/ 12 C and 13 C/ 12 C determinations, respectively, reaching a total sample throughput of ¾1000 measured samples in 2006. In-vacuum and outside-vacuum facilities for IBA by conventional methods (PIXE, PIGE, RBS, NRA) have been in operation since 2004. In the low energy side of the system a multipurpose injector, formed by two ion sources (a HVEE Mod. 358 Duoplasmatron ion source and a HVEE 860A sputtering ion source), and a 90 ° analyzing magnet are used to produce and inject into the accelerator the ion beams to be used in the IBA and ion implantation beam lines. In particular, protons and He beams are produced in the 860 source by sputtering of TiH cathodes and in the Duoplasmatron source, respectively. A detailed description of the external-beam set up has been given elsewhere. 3 Copyright  2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.