Micadas: Routine and high-precision radiocarbon dating

Abstract

The prototype mini carbon dating system (MICADAS) at ETH Zurich has been in routine operation for almost 2 yr. Because of its simple and compact layout, setting up a radiocarbon measurement is fast and the system runs very reliably over days or even weeks without retuning. The stability of the instrument is responsible for the good performance in highestprecision measurements where results of single samples can be reproduced within less than 2‰. The measurements are described and the performance of MICADAS is demonstrated on measured data. © 2010 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona.