Dr. Hans-Arno Synal

The ETH Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics in Zurich is a worldwide leading group in developing new instrumentation for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) and Ion Beam Analyses (IBA). A strong emphasis is put into studying the physics of atomic ions at low energies in order to develop new compact facilities for AMS and IBA.

In addition, the ETH accelerator facilities serve as a national and international centre of competence for AMS and IBA applications. AMS is used for the detection of ultra-low levels of long-lived radionuclides. The method is applied to radiocarbon dating, climate research, geology, and life sciences. IBA is for materials analysis by nuclear techniques such as Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) or Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis (ERDA).

Worldwide, numerous scientific groups are working in close relationship with our laboratory and rely on the results of the measurements performed at the ETH accelerator facility in Zurich.