Applications

Our fission track dating clients use the Autoscan system for two primary purposes:

• Counting the density of fission tracks to establish the age of a rock sample.
• Measuring average track lengths to establish the sample's likely thermal history.

These measurements matter in petroleum exploration, where the likelihood of finding oil at a location is assessed from the age and temperature history of the rock, and in fundamental research — dating rock in settings from Antarctica to the Himalaya. Our major clients are government research departments and universities, with a strong emphasis in geology. (Curious how track counting finds oil? See our plain-language explainer in the FAQs.)

Why laboratories choose Autoscan

Automated track counting. The single biggest reason. Manual counting is deeply tedious, and our automation handles track densities roughly an order of magnitude beyond what a human can conveniently count — while an experienced operator saves an estimated 85% of their time.

High-precision repositioning. The two-axis Zeiss stage revisits points of interest within ±1 µm in X and Y, with focus repeatable to 10 nm on the Z2m (25 nm on the M2m). Stage and joystick connect directly to the microscope — no external stage controller required.

A world first, born in Melbourne

The fully automated counting in Trakscan Plus is the result of a three-year collaborative research project with the fission track group at the University of Melbourne, headed by Professor A.J.W. Gleadow. It counts tracks automatically on the apatite grain and on the mica for the external detector method (EDM), and on apatite grains for the LA-ICP-MS technique.

This achievement follows decades of failed attempts by groups worldwide: the many artefacts and natural defects in apatite crystals defeated earlier technology. Faster computers and digital cameras with finer pixels finally made it possible — and our implementation is now patented.

Your grains, preserved forever

A further benefit emerged during development: because the system stores extremely high-quality 3-D image stacks of the tracks in each grain, the subsequent fate of the grain no longer matters. Destructive techniques such as LA-ICP-MS analysis can be used freely — the original track information remains on file.

That in turn means laboratories can bypass the inconvenient, time-consuming neutron irradiation step of the classical EDM workflow. LA-ICP-MS quantifies elemental concentrations directly (albeit destructively) and produces a far richer data set, improving the statistics of the analysis. And for laboratories that prefer the traditional radiation-based EDM approach, our systems support it fully — with automatic counting of tracks in both the apatite mount and the muscovite mica detector.