Characterization of the LEMA isotope separator to measure concentrations of ¹⁰Be from atmospheric filters

The understanding and measurement of ¹⁰Be is useful for earth science. Its way of production, deposition and mainly half-life allow phenomenological reconstructions of great interest on this area. In order to characterize the 1 MV isotope separator of the National AMS Laboratory LEMA (Laboratorio de Espectrometría de Masas con Aceleradores) at Mexico City for the measurement of ¹⁰Be concentrations, atmospheric filters with aerosols content were used. The filters were processed with a radio-chemical extraction procedure detailed here. Then, the prepared samples were pressed in cathodes and measured by using the AMS technique, tuning the machine till focus the optics on the beryllium peak. The preliminary statistical analysis of the ¹⁰Be/⁹Be ratios obtained from this characterization is presented in this work. Two statistical methods were used in order to improve the data information. With them, statistical stability behavior is observed on different campaigns of measurements. The results obtained comparing both methods are here discussed. (paper)