A new AMS facility in Mexico

Abstract A new Accelerator Mass Spectrometry system has been installed at the Institute of Physics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). A sample preparation chemistry laboratory equipped with computer controlled graphitization equipment (AGEIII) has also been established. Together both facilities constitute the LEMA (Laboratorio de Espectrometria de Masas con Aceleradores) first of its kind in Mexico. High sensitivity characterization of the concentration in a sample of 14 C as well as 10 Be, 26 Al, 129 I and Pu are now possible. Since the demand for 14 C dating is far more abundant, a data analysis program was developed in the cross-platform programming language Python in order to calculate radiocarbon age. Results from installation, acceptance tests and the first results of 14 C analyses of reference materials prepared in our own facility are presented.