Ion Beam Analysis for the environment and cultural heritage: the LABEC experience

The LABEC, the ion beam laboratory of nuclear techniques for the environment and cultural heritage of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), located in the Scientific and Technological Campus of the University of Florence, Italy, is a large laboratory dedicated to applications of accelerator-related analytical techniques, based on a 3 MV Tandetron accelerator, such as Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). At LABEC we have a great expertise in IBA measurements with external beams, performed while maintaining the targets/objects to be analysed in atmosphere at ambient pressure, avoiding the need of picking up samples, reducing ion beam induced damages and greatly enhancing the measurement throughput.

This presentation describes the IBA facilities presently available in the LABEC laboratory, their technical features and the planned upgrades, including some success stories of recent applications, mainly focused on studies of cultural heritage and atmospheric aerosol composition.