We packed and shipped the first batch of 97 samples for proton irradiation at the Mass General Hospital on Monday, 24 February 2020. The samples include apatite from Alaska and Antarctica, as well as a variety of other mineral samples for exploratory work, including fluorite and carbonate samples. In addition to 4He/3He thermochronology, some of these samples will be used for Ne diffusion experiments. There are already more samples in the queue for the second batch of samples, but this set will keep us busy for the foreseeable future as we work to bring an additional VG 5400 into service for measuring He isotopes in solid samples. This machine has measured He isotopes in water samples for years, but the changing focus of the lab means that we will be adapting it to the task of measuring He evolved from mineral samples in diffusion cells.
