Unlocking the secrets of ancient glass technology using ToF-SIMS

The use of time of flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) for ancient glass technology is discussed. ToF-SIMS detects the opacifying inclusions which are only a few microns in size and provides spectroscopic identification of the chemical state. As the ToF-SIMS have a shallow sampling depth, the cross-sectional area of an inclusion exposed by polishing will only be optimal when the polished surface coincides with the maximum dimension. The application of ToF-SIMS to ancient glasses has the potential to provide important new information about the occurrence and distribution of trace impurities in inclusions, which cannot be obtained using any other technique.