Accelerator Mass Spectrometry

摘要

Isotopic signatures contain information about a sample's molecular history and can be used to decipher mechanisms of chemical change. Natural and artificially enhanced isotopic concentrations of elements ranging from ~3H to ~(238)U are used in fields as diverse as the earth sciences, the life sciences, and archaeology to study chemical and physical pathways. For example, the stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen can be used to study the photosynthetic pathway of plants, the dietary preferences of animals feeding on plants, or the balance of marine and terrestrial nutrition in a human population.