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AIST TODAYNo.18 Autumn 2005 [ PDF:10.2MB ]


Cryogenics for a time-of-flight mass spectrometer with superconducting particle detectors


Superconducting detectors are promissing for mass spectrometers, which are important in proteomics, since the superconducting detectors have 100% detection efficiency for a wide mass range from atoms to proteins. The high detection efficiency relies on a very small threshold to detect quantum energies. However, the smallness of effective detection area and the requirement for a low temperature of 0.3 K (-272.85 °C) are bottlenecks. We succeeded in realizing the implementation of cryogenic wiring between a large scale superconducting array detector, which is on a cold stage of 0.3 K, and electronics at room temperature.

Figure 1
Figure 1: Comparison of detection efficiency for a very large macromolecule oaf polystyrene between a superconducting detector (a) and a conventional microchannel plate detector (b).

Figure 2
Figure 2: Cooling curves of a cryogen-free cryostat equipped with one hundred coaxial cables.

Relational Information

AIST TODAY Vol.5, No.8 (2005) p.28-29



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