Ion Beam Analysis
ANSTO's Institute for the Environment is one of the main facilities for Ion Beam Analysis in Australia.
Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) is used to determine what elements are present in biological, geological and man-made materials. It represents a fast, sensitive and non-destructive way of establishing how atoms are distributed throughout a sample.
Animated schematic of the complex ion beam interactions utilised for ion beam analysis
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Within the Institute for Environmental Research (IER), the Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) group use the leading-edge 2MV STAR and 10MV ANTARES accelerators in a wide range of areas, such as: monitoring ambient air pollution, determining heavy metals pollutants in biological systems, studying archaeological rock and soil specimens, analysing thin films for photovoltaic (solar cell) applications and probing materials engineering problems such as corrosion and coating delamination.
These facilities are used by internal and external researchers in almost every area of science, including physics, zoology, biology, environmental and materials science, geology and archaeology.
Instruments
The analytical capabilities available on the STAR and ANTARES accelerators include particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE), proton induced gamma emission (PIGE), Rutherford backscattering (RBS), nuclear reaction analysis (NRA), particle elastic scattering (PESA), heavy ion time-of-flight (RToF), elastic recoil spectrometry (ERD) and Heavy Ion Microprobe which is capable of elemental imaging of up to 35 chemical species with spatial resolution of one micrometers.
Partners and collaborators
The IBA facilities are offered to 37 universities through AINSE and members of the group are involved in significant research projects that impact Australia and the wider global community. The IBA has partnerships with several environmental protection agencies, the Australian Coal Association, private industry, the CSIRO and International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna (IAEA), among others.
Key contact:
David CohenTask Leader, Ion Beam Analysis
ANSTO Institute for Environmental Research
PMB 1, Menai NSW 2234, Australia
Phone: +61 2 9717 3118
Email: David.cohen@ansto.gov.au
Team members (alphabetical order)
Armand Atanacio, David Cohen, Peter Drewer, David Garton, Mihail Ionescu, Rainer Siegele, Ed Stelcer and Craig Thompson.
General enquiries:
Institute for Environmental Research Personal Assistant to Head of Institute: Joanne Summers, IBA general enquires: David Cohen
Publications
The IBA group has published in a broad range of scientific areas, and produced various brochures and other publications, all of which can be found here. On this page, you can also find data on fine particle pollution in the Sydney region, collected by the IBA's Aerosol Sampling Program. This data is published as Monthly Summary Sheets and ASP Newsletters, which are designed to keep interested parties up to date with recent analyses and results. Each newsletter focuses on specific data from selected sites around Australia. To receive your own copy of the ASP Newsletter contact Dr David Cohen.