Applications
The applications are many. AMS is most often employed to determine the concentration of 14C, e.g. by archaeologists for radiocarbon dating. An accelerator mass spectrometer is required, over other forms of mass spectrometry, because of their insufficient abundance sensitivity, and to resolve stable nitrogen-14 from radiocarbon. Due to the long half-life of 14C, decay counting requires significantly larger samples. 10Be, 26Al, and 36Cl are used for surface exposure dating in geology. 3H, 14C, 36Cl, and 129I are used as hydrological tracer.
Accelerator mass spectrometry is widely used in biomedical research. In particular 41Ca has been used to measure bone resorption in postmenopausal women.
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