LABEC, the INFN ion beam laboratory of nuclear techniques for environment and cultural heritage

Abstract

The LABEC laboratory, the INFN ion beam laboratory of nuclear techniques for environment and cultural heritage, located in the Scientific and Technological Campus of the University of Florence in Sesto Fiorentino, started its operational activities in 2004, after INFN decided in 2001 to provide our applied nuclear physics group with a large laboratory dedicated to applications of accelerator-related analytical techniques, based on a new 3 MV Tandetron accelerator. The new accelerator greatly improved the performance of existing Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) applications (for which we were using since the 1980s an old single-ended Van de Graaff accelerator) and in addition allowed to start a novel activity of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), in particular for 14C dating. Switching between IBA and AMS operation became very easy and fast, which allowed us high flexibility in programming the activities, mainly focused on studies of cultural heritage and atmospheric aerosol composition, but including also applications to biology, geology, material science and forensics, ion implantation, tests of radiation damage to components, detector performance tests and low-energy nuclear physics. This paper describes the facilities presently available in the LABEC laboratory, their technical features and some success stories of recent applications.

Multi-Analytical Characterization and Radiocarbon Dating of a Roman Egyptian Mummy Portrait

“…Radiocarbon dating was performed by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry using the dedicated beam line of the HVEE 3 MV Tandem accelerator installed at the INFN-LABEC laboratory in Florence [26,27]. Before the measurements, the sample was prepared using the Acid-Base-Acid procedure [28] to remove the possible natural contaminations from exogenous carbon.…”

“…Molecules 2021,26, 5268 12 of 15 calibration curve (conventional radiocarbon age vs. calendar age) with its uncertainty is shown in blue; the measured radiocarbon age, treated as a normally distributed random variable, is displayed in red on the y axis. The calibration result is reported in grey on the x axis as posterior probability distribution.…”

PM10 variation, composition, and source analysis in Tuscany (Italy) following the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions

“…The second part of the filter was analyzed by PIXE which allowed the measurement of the concentrations of all the elements with atomic number Z > 16. The analyses were carried out with the 3 MV Tandetron accelerator of the LABEC laboratory in Florence with the external set-up described in Lucarelli et al (2018Lucarelli et al ( , 2014, Chiari et al (2021), Calzolai et al (2006). Using uncertainties on elemental concentrations were determined by the sum of independent uncertainties on certified thicknesses of the standards (5%), deposition area (2%), air flow (2%), and X-ray counting statistics (2%-20%).…”

The Role of PIXE and XRF in Heritage Science: The INFN-CHNet LABEC Experience

“…Tests of detectors for nuclear and particle physics [1][2][3], studies of ion-matter interaction for solid state physics [4] and compositional measurements for heritage science (HS) [5], and environmental aerosol science [6] are just some examples of the diverse applications. Those activities have been conducted thanks to the six beamlines of the TANDETRON accelerator: the external beamline for aerosol measurements [7]; the external microbeam line [8]; the pulsed beamline [9,10]; the ion beam analysis beamline in vacuum [11]; the external beamline for cultural heritage measurements; and the atomic mass spectrometry beamline for 14 C dating [12]. Reviews on past and current activities at the INFN-LABEC are found in [13,14].…”