The Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator, VERA, is a
particle accelerator
A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel electric charge, charged particles to very high speeds and energies, and to contain them in well-defined particle beam, beams.
Large accelerators are used for fun ...
.
It is operated by the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich h ...
and is dedicated to
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is a form of mass spectrometry that accelerates ions to extraordinarily high kinetic energies before mass analysis. The special strength of AMS among the mass spectrometric methods is its power to separate a r ...
(AMS). It started operation in 1995.
The system is a 3-MV
Pelletron
A Pelletron is a type of electrostatic generator, structurally similar to a Van de Graaff generator. Pelletrons have been built in many sizes, from small units producing voltages up to 500 kilovolts (kV) and beam energies up to 1 megaelectronvolt ...
type tandem accelerator, designed to accelerate
protons
A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron m ...
or heavy
ions
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge.
The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...
.
See also
*
Accelerator mass spectrometry
Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is a form of mass spectrometry that accelerates ions to extraordinarily high kinetic energies before mass analysis. The special strength of AMS among the mass spectrometric methods is its power to separate a r ...
*
List of accelerator mass spectrometry facilities
The following list of accelerator mass spectrometry facilities includes research centers that employ accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS).
Accelerator mass spectrometry is a form of mass spectrometry that accelerates ions to extraordinarily high ...
External links
The VERA accelerator home page.The Fakultät für Physik (Faculty of Physics) at the ...Universität Wien (University of Vienna).
References
Particle accelerators
University of Vienna
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