Cosmogenic neon from individual grains of CM meteorites - Extremely long pre-compaction exposure histories or an enhanced early particle flux

This paper presents the results on cosmogenic Ne extracted from individual meteoritic grains by a laser extraction system which used, at different times, two CW lasers: an Ar-ion laser and an Nd:YAG laser, with 20 and 70 W of deliverable power, respectively. Chemical etching was used to select grains exposed to solar flare VH particles. Results show that most of the grains with solar flare VH tracks (but not those which did not exhibit such tracks) contain spallation-produed Ne in significant excess of that due to the nominal cosmic-ray exposure, providing evidence for extensive energetic particle exposure during the precompaction era.