Environmental Science

By applying SIMS to my samples from the Greenland Ice Sheet, I was able to generate single-cell measurements of microbial activity and nutrient uptake, revealing how these algae thrive in such a harsh environment and may expand across the ice in the future. The SIMS measurements provided the first single-cell data on carbon and nitrogen uptake in glacier ice algae, showing their minimal nutrient requirements and resilience in extreme environments. For me, this clearly highlights SIMS as a unique and powerful method for quantifying microbial activity and advancing our understanding of elemental cycling. "

The high sensitivity and spatial resolution of SIMS opens exciting opportunities to detect traces of past volcanic eruptions in cave deposits, while high-precision oxygen isotope analysis allows reconstruction of past climates in the same materials. By applying SIMS techniques to measure sulfur concentrations and oxygen isotopes in a sample from a cave in Germany, we could, for the first time, directly link a cave record from central Europe with ice core data from Greenland, with the respective volcanic sulfur spikes of the Laacher See eruption as tie points. "

The ability of the LG-SIMS instruments to obtain high-precision oxygen isotopic data from tiny zircon domains allowed us to uncover the earliest evidence of Earth’s hydrological cycle. The fine-tuned instrument performance and reliable data acquisition made it possible to tackle questions that were previously beyond reach. "

SIMS provides a unique opportunity to assess isotopic heterogeneity among individual grains within rocks or sediments. By applying this technique to measure the sulfur isotope composition of micrometer-sized pyrite grains from Lake Cadagno, we were able to demonstrate unambiguously that pyrite preserved the isotopic evolution of the dissolved sulfide pool over the past decades. "

 Since 1999 CAMECA IMS 6f has been used for the research on isotope ratio analysis of uranium in individual particles in the environment at JAEA (Japan Atomic Energy Agency). These analysis data are regularly provided to IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and are highly evaluated by IAEA. End of 2017 we have newly introduced a CAMECA IMS 1300–HR³, which realizes more precise isotope ratio measurements, and have started new researches. It is impossible to perform without using CAMECA’s SIMS instruments with high performance and reliability. They continue to be widely utilized in the field of nuclear sciences and environmental sciences. "