A second automated analytical system, featuring a Nu Instruments Noblesse 5-collector mass spectrometer was commissioned in 2010. The spectrometer is attached to a gas extraction line with a 55 W CO2 laser, two SAES GP-50 getters, an ARS cryo trap operating at -125 ºC, and two gas reservoir/pipette systems. The Noblesse has an axial Faraday detector and four ETP ion counting electron multipliers‒two at high mass (IC0 and IC1) and two at low mass (IC2 and IC3) positions. Because the four ion counting detectors have a finite dynamic range, most analyses conducted using the Noblesse are total fusions of small, Cenozoic feldspars or incremental heating of small aliquots (<5 mg) of minerals or groundmass.
The Noblesse system. A 55W CO2 laser (black) in the upper center and 193nm excimer laser to the left. The gas handling system is connected to the ion source on the left end of the spectrometer. The ion beam passes through the pole pieces of the electromagnet and are turned into the collector block on the right that has 4 ion counting multipliers and an axial Faraday cup.