title: Carbon-14: direct detection at natural concentrations.
abstract: The (14)C atoms naturally present in a piece of 19th-century wood have been detected directly by means of a tandem Van de Graaff accelerator used as a high-energy mass spectrometer. The (14)C ions were easily resolved from interfering ions with the use of a DeltaE-E detector telescope (this telescope consists of a pair of detectors; one of them measures the specific ionization, DeltaE, and the sum of the signals from both detectors gives the total energy for each ion, ET). The technique offers a number of practical advantages.
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Korteling
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Stott