Progress in 14C and 10Be dating at SFU

Since early 1982, a substantial upgrading of the Simon Fraser University radioisotope dating system at the McMaster FN accelerator has taken place. The accelerator itself was equipped with a new charging system and beam tubes, resulting in excellent stability and beam transmission. A new isotope filtering system of two magnets and a Wien filter has removed previously troublesome backgrounds: our carbon background from graphite is now ～ 47 ka BP, and is due to real ¹⁴C rather than scattered ¹³C. Measurement of ¹⁰Be in natural samples is now routine, with several hundred samples processed. Other work on ¹⁰Be has included studies which showed for the first time that ¹⁰Be could be measured at low energies (3 MV). We have also started work on ²⁶Al detection as a preliminary to the investigation of ²⁶Al/¹⁰Be dating. Finally, we present examples of our applications of this facility to studies in oceanography and archaeology.