Since summer 2013 Utrecht University hosts the Dutch national facility for high-resolution in situ isotope and element analysis of natural materials. The facility involves a partnership of Utrecht University with Free University of Amsterdam, NCB Naturalis, Netherlands Institute of Sea Research and Netherlands Institute of Ecology.

The facility supports three main research areas:

• biogeochemistry and (microbial) ecology;
• paleo-environmental and climate reconstructions;
• planetary and solid Earth sciences.

However, it is open to research from other disciplines too (e.g. life sciences, medical and material sciences). Researchers affiliated with institutions that are not members of the consortium, including both academic and non-academic, national and international, are also welcome to apply for analysis time.

Analytical equipment for spatially resolved chemical/isotopic analysis includes:

• NanoSIMS 50L (Cameca) (installed Feb. 2013)
• Electron microprobe JEOL 8530F(installed summer 2014)
• Micro-XRF
• EDAX bench-top Energy Dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (AMETEK Inc), with a Rh tube as X-ray source
• Laser Ablation ICPMS, ThermoFischer Scientific Element 2 magnetic sector ICP-MS and a Lambda Physik excimer laser (193 nm) with GeoLas optics (link).

Utrecht University has also extensive imaging facilities, both for life sciences and material sciences, including focused ion beam (FIB) equipment.