Atom‐probe analyses of nanodiamonds from Allende |
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| Authors: | Philipp R Heck Frank J Stadermann Dieter Isheim Orlando Auciello Tyrone L Daulton Andrew M Davis Jeffrey W Elam Christine Floss Jon Hiller David J Larson Josiah B Lewis Anil Mane Michael J Pellin Michael R Savina David N Seidman Thomas Stephan |
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| Institution: | 1. Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies, The Field Museum, , Chicago, Illinois, USA;2. Chicago Center for Cosmochemistry, The University of Chicago, , Chicago, Illinois, USA;3. Laboratory for Space Sciences, , St. Louis, Missouri, USA;4. Physics Department, Washington University, , St. Louis, Missouri, USA;5. Northwestern University Center for Atom‐Probe Tomography, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Northwestern University, , Evanston, Illinois, USA;6. Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, , Argonne, Illinois, USA;7. Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas‐Dallas, , Richardson, Texas, USA;8. Center for Materials Innovation, Washington University, , St. Louis, Missouri, USA;9. Department of the Geophysical Sciences, The University of Chicago, , Chicago, Illinois, USA;10. Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, , Chicago, Illinois, USA;11. Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory, , Argonne, Illinois, USA;12. Cameca Instruments, Inc., , Madison, Wisconsin, USA |
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| Abstract: | Atom‐probe tomography (APT) is currently the only analytical technique that, due to its spatial resolution and detection efficiency, has the potential to measure the carbon isotope ratios of individual nanodiamonds. We describe three different sample preparation protocols that we developed for the APT analysis of meteoritic nanodiamonds at sub‐nm resolution and present carbon isotope peak ratios of meteoritic and synthetic nanodiamonds. The results demonstrate an instrumental bias associated with APT that needs to be quantified and corrected to obtain accurate isotope ratios. After this correction is applied, this technique should allow determination of the distribution of 12C/13C ratios in individual diamond grains, solving the decades‐old question of the origin of meteoritic nanodiamonds: what fraction, if any, formed in the solar system and in presolar environments? Furthermore, APT could help us identify the stellar sources of any presolar nanodiamonds that are detected. |
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