Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is the most sensitive method for quantitation of 14C in biological samples. This technology has been used in a variety of low dose, human health related studies over the last 20 years when very high sensitivity was needed. AMS helped pioneer these scientific methods, but its expensive facilities and requirements for highly trained technical staff have limited their proliferation. Quantification of 14C by cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) offers an approach that eliminates many of the shortcomings of an accelerator-based system and would supplement the use of AMS in biomedical research. Our initial prototype, using a non-ideal wavelength laser and under suboptimal experimental conditions, has a 3.5-modern, 1-σ precision for detection of milligram-sized, carbon-14-elevated samples. These results demonstrate proof of principle and provided a starting point for the development of a spectrometer capable of biologically relevant sensitivities.

中文翻译：

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用腔衰荡光谱法测量碳14。

加速器质谱（AMS）是定量生物样品中14 C的最灵敏方法。在过去的20年中，当需要非常高的灵敏度时，该技术已用于各种与人类健康相关的低剂量研究中。AMS帮助开创了这些科学方法的先河，但是其昂贵的设施和对训练有素的技术人员的要求限制了它们的普及。通过腔衰荡光谱法（CRDS）定量14 C提供了一种方法，该方法消除了基于加速器的系统的许多缺点，并将补充AMS在生物医学研究中的使用。我们的初始原型使用非理想波长的激光，并且在次优的实验条件下，具有3.5现代的1-σ精度，可检测毫克大小的碳14升高的样品。