The UD Environmental Isotope Science Laboratory occupies two separate laboratory spaces: the Isotope-Ratio Mass Spectrometry Laboratory (~2,000 sq ft) and the Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory (~650 sq ft). Instrumentation that is currently house in these two laboratories is listed below:
Isotope-Ratio Mass Spectrometry Laboratory
- Thermo Scientific Orbitrap Exploris 240 (installed March 2023)
- Thermo ScientificDelta V Plus isotope-ratio mass spectrometer with dual-inlet (installed 2019); Conflo-IV reference interface; EA Isolink CN elemental analyzer with zero-blank autosampler.
- Thermo Scientific Delta V Plus isotope-ratio mass spectrometer (installed 2015); Conflo-IV reference interface; Trace 1310 gas chromatograph with programmable PTV injector; ISQ II LT single quadrupole mass spectrometr; GC Isolink II combustion/thermal conversion preparation device; TriPlus autosampler.
- Thermo Scientific Delta V Plus isotope-ratio mass spectrometer (installed in 2014; moved to present location 2019); Conflo-IV reference interface; Costech elemental analyzer; Thermo thermal conversion/elemental analyzer (TC/EA); Gas Bench II® automated gas handling system; PAL autosampler.
- Thermo-Finnigan DeltaPlus XL isotope-ratio mass spectrometer with dual-inlet and multiple continuous-flow inlet systems (installed in 2001; moved to present location in 2014). Inlet systems include the following: Carlo-Erba Insturments NCS-2500 elemental analyzer; Gas Bench II® automated gas handling system; Conflo-III gas chromatograph-combustion interface with HP 6890 gas chromatograph; LEAP CombiPal autosampler; and custom-built system for purification and stable isotopic analysis of Cl as CH3
- Los Gatos Enhanced Performance Liquid-Water Isotope Analyzer model LWIA-24 with autoinjector for measurement of hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios in water.
Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory
- Six high-purity Ge detector systems for gamma spectrometry: two Canberra reverse-electrode detector systems (30 and 35% relative efficiency at 1.33 MeV); two Canberra low-energy detector systems (GL2020); and two ORTEC well-geometry Ge detector systems (15-mm well diameter, 25% relative efficiency at 1.33 MeV). All gamma detectors are housed in low-background 10-cm lead shields; all have ORTEC DSPEC-series or Canberra Lynx digital signal analyzers interfaced with either Maestro-2000 or Genie-2000 multichannel analyzer software packages for data acquisition.
- Two Scientific Computer Instruments, Inc. (West Columbia, South Carolina) RaDeCC radon-emanation counting systems for measurement of short-lived radium isotopes.
- A low-background, 10-detector Canberra Alpha Analyst system (~1 background count per day per alpha peak from 3 to 8 MeV) interfaced via Ethernet link with a PC for acquisition and analysis of alpha spectrometry data. Energy and efficiency calibrations are done using U and Th electrodeposited from NIST standard solutions onto polished stainless steel disks.
Both laboratories are served by
- Wet chemistry facilities equipped with multiple fume hoods, furnaces, ovens, macro- and micro-balances, small and large centrifuges, various glass and Teflon labware, ultrapure deionized water systems, and vacuum manifolds for sample preparation.
- An extensive set of isotopic reference materials from NIST, IAEA, USGS, ISL, and other for analysis of stable isotope ratios of H, C, N, O, S, and Cl, as well as radioactivity of the U- and Th-series radioisotopes, 137-Cs, and tritium.
The Isotope-Ratio Mass Spectrometry laboratory of the Environmental Isotope Science Laboratory is located in Room 251 of the Harker Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (ISE) Laboratory building at 221 Academy Street, Newark, DE. This 194,000 sq. ft. LEED Silver-certified building was completed in Fall 2013 as a well-designed hub for promoting cross-disciplinary research and education. The Harker ISE Lab also contains extensive core analytical facilities including the Advanced Materials Characterization Laboratory (amcl.udel.edu), the Keck Center for Advanced Microscopy and Microanalysis (camm.udel.edu), and the Nanofabrication Facility (udnf.udel.edu). In addition, the Harker ISE Lab houses the offices of the Delaware Environmental Institute (denin.udel.edu) that connects a broad group of environmental researchers throughout Delaware. The Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory is located in two rooms on the ground floor of Penny Hall, at 255 Academy Street, Newark DE, which also houses the Department of Earth Sciences.
