HIP - Heidelberg Ion Probe

What is HIP?

The Heidelberg Ion Probe (HIP) laboratory is dedicated to providing isotopic analysis of geochemically and cosmochemically important solids at high spatial resolution and sensitivity. The HIP laboratory features a CAMECA ims 1280-HR ion microprobe and peripheral instrumentation for pre- and post-analysis investigation of samples. The lab is hosted in the Institute of Earth Sciences of the Heidelberg University. Instrument acquisition was funded through DFG which also oversees its operation.

History of Acquisition

The Heidelberg Ion Probe was applied for within the DFG special priority program SPP 1385 "The First 10 Million Years of the Solar System" (coordinators:  Klaus Mezger, Bern, and M. Trieloff, Heidelberg).

The compelling advantages of applying for such an instrument by the SPP were

• the intrinsically urgent need for this key technology imposed by heterogeneous and ultra-small extraterrestrial samples, last but not least with respect to future sample return missions
• the fact that the SPP of which most members are not only cosmochemists but also geoscientists was the suitable scientific nucleus and field, from which a national SIMS center can emerge

In December 2014 the CAMECA 1280-HR ion probe was inaugurated by K. Remes (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - German Research Foundation) and B. Eitel, Rector of Heidelberg University. A. W. Hofmann, former director of the Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, gave a talk about the applications of ion probes in cosmo- and geochemistry.

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