title: Temperature controller for thermal ionization mass spectrometry.
abstract: We describe the use of a simple voltage stabilizer that controls the filament temperature (T(f)) in the ion source of a thermal ionization mass spectrometer. The filament voltage (V(f)) is measured by means of a separate pair of wires connected inside of the ion source in parallel to the wires supplying power. It has been demonstrated that V(f) is directly proportional to T(f) in a wide range of filament temperature. The T(f) value is solely controlled by the reference voltage (V(r)) that can be manually selected from a voltage divider or by means of a computer. Digital signals from the computer in the form of a series of pulses are transmitted opto-electronically and subsequently converted to analog signals. The temperature controller described here was successfully applied for analysis of potassium concentration by the isotope dilution method.
authors.affiliation: Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Institute of Physics, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, 20-031 Lublin, Poland. halas@tytan.umcs.lublin.pl
authors.forename: Stanislaw
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Halas
authors.forename: Artur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wójtowicz
authors.forename: Jaroslaw
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nowak
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Durakiewicz