Development of Electronic Systems for Noble Gas Mass Spectrometers

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的，该项目的主要目的是为惰性气体测量专用质谱仪开发一套模块化、可互换的电子控制设备。轻惰性气体（氦、氖和氩）为确定地球物质的年龄和监测环境过程提供了强有力的工具，这在美国的大学和联邦研究实验室中非常重要。满足惰性气体研究日益增长的需求的战略必须包括保持对现有高质量仪器的投资，并促进新的和具有成本效益的仪器，以便为更多的研究人员提供使用机会。这些策略在电子控制设计和电子系统与计算机控制的集成领域具有共同的解决方案。在这个为期两年的项目中创建的电子设备将在奥本大学的奥本稀有同位素质量分析实验室最近建造的新型质谱仪上进行开发、改装和测试，也将在伯克利地质年代学中心最近获得的1990年建造的质谱仪上进行测试。我们打算为这两种仪器创建两套相对可互换的电子设备，从而证明对美国常用仪器的更广泛适用性。 这些升级电子设备的目标是提高系统性能和可靠性，以适应最先进的科学研究，包括对极年轻材料的40 Ar/39 Ar分析，对极少量材料的激光光斑分析，以及对超大数据集的采集。 该项目涉及科学，技术，工程和数学教学的重要国家目标，这是特别相关的亚拉巴马州。该项目的外联支助将使有才华的高中生能够参与实验室设计和研究。通过该项目开发的仪器将刺激美国进一步创新和制造相对便宜的质谱仪，并增加过去三十年来对惰性气体质谱仪设施的投资。该项目将对降低惰性气体分析的典型成本和增加可行的质谱设施的数量产生影响。 本项目中开发的设备将把质谱仪操作的所有关键变量（电磁分析仪、源和检测器）置于计算机控制之下，并实现系统过程的实时监控和档案记录保存。在可能的最大程度上，所构建的设备将利用当今广泛可用的行业标准组件，并在使用中代表最大的经济性（平衡因素，包括易于维修，物理尺寸，产热管理等）。本拟议研究的产品将包括电子原理图和设备操作原理的讨论，这些设备适合由合格的电气技术人员或工程师（如在典型大学的研究设备支持组中所见）进行维修和/或施工。该项目产生的产品可帮助私营行业伙伴制造和提供此类装置，作为对惰性气体界的一项服务。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) The primary purpose of this project is to derive a modular, interchangeable set of electronic control devices for mass spectrometers dedicated to measurements of noble gases. The light noble gases (helium, neon, and argon) provide powerful tools for determining the ages of earth materials and monitoring environmental processes that are important in university and federal research laboratories of the United States. Strategies to meet the increasing demands of noble gas research must include the maintenance of investments in existing high-quality instrumentation and the promotion of new and cost-effective instrumentation to provide access for a greater number of researchers. These strategies have common solutions in the area of electronic control design and the integration of electronic systems with computer control. The electronic devices created in this two-year project will be developed, retrofitted and tested on a novel mass spectrometer recently constructed in the Auburn Noble Isotope Mass Analysis Laboratory at Auburn University, and also on a spectrometer constructed in 1990 and recently acquired by the Berkeley Geochronology Center. We intend to create two sets of electronics for these two instruments that are relatively interchangeable, thus demonstrating a broader applicability to instruments commonly in use in the United States. The goal for these upgrade electronics is to improve system performance and reliability commensurate with state-of-the-art scientific research, including the 40Ar/39Ar analysis of extremely young materials, laser spot analyses of very small masses of material, and also the acquisition of very large datasets. This project addresses important national goals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematical instruction, and this is especially relevant for the state of Alabama. Outreach support in this project will enable talented high-school students to participate in laboratory design and research. Instruments developed through this project will stimulate further innovation and manufacture of relatively inexpensive mass spectrometers in America, and enhance the investments made in noble gas mass spectrometer facilities over the past three decades. This project will have an influence to lower the typical costs of noble gas analysis, and increase the number of viable mass spectrometry facilities. The devices developed in this project will place all critical variables for mass spectrometer operation (the electromagnetic analyzer, source, and detector) under computer control and enable real-time monitoring and archival record keeping of system processes. To the maximum extent possible, the devices constructed will utilize industry standard components that are widely available today and represent the greatest economy in use (balancing factors including the ease of service, physical size, management of heat production, etc.) The products of this proposed research will include electronics schematics and discussions of principles of operation for the devices that would be suitable to allow service and/or construction by a qualified electrical technician or engineer (as would be found in the research equipment support group of a typical university). Products derived from this project can help enable a private-industry partner to fabricate and provide such devices as a service to the noble gas community.