Issue |
A&A
Volume 409, Number 3, October III 2003
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 1151 - 1167 | |
Section | Astronomical instrumentation | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20031087 | |
Published online | 17 November 2003 |
Time of flight mass spectra of ions in plasmas produced by hypervelocity impacts of organic and mineralogical microparticles on a cosmic dust analyser
1
Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, University of Kent at Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NR, UK
2
School of Chemistry, Physics and Environmental Science, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QJ, UK
3
Planetary and Space Science Research Institute, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
4
Max-Planck Institute für Kernphysik, Postf. 103980, 69029 Heidelberg, Germany
5
School of Life Sciences and Technology, Victoria University, Melbourne City, Australia
Corresponding author: M. J. Burchell, M.J.Burchell@kent.ac.uk
Received:
4
June
2002
Accepted:
16
July
2003
The ionic plasma produced by a hypervelocity particle
impact can be analysed to determine compositional information for
the original particle by using a time-of-flight mass spectrometer.
Such methods have been adopted on interplanetary dust detectors to
perform in-situ analyses of encountered grains, for example, the
Cassini Cosmic Dust Analyser (CDA). In order to more fully
understand the data returned by such instruments, it is necessary
to study their response to impacts in the laboratory. Accordingly,
data are shown here for the mass spectra of ionic plasmas,
produced through the acceleration of microparticles via a 2 MV van de Graaff accelerator and their impact on a dimensionally correct
CDA model with a rhodium target. The microparticle dusts examined
have three different chemical compositions: metal (iron), organic
(polypyrrole and polystyrene latex) and mineral (aluminosilicate
clay). These microparticles have mean diameters in the range 0.1
to 1.6 μm and their velocities range from 1–50 km s-1. They thus cover a wide range of compositions, sizes and
speeds expected for dust particles encountered by spacecraft in
the Solar System. The advent of new low-density, microparticles
with highly controllable attributes (composition, size) has
enabled a number of new investigations in this area. The key is
the use of a conducting polymer, either as the particle itself or
as a thin overlayer on organic (or inorganic) core particles. This
conductive coating permits efficient electrostatic charging and
acceleration. Here, we examine how the projectile's chemical
composition influences the ionic plasma produced after the
hypervelocity impact. This study thus extends our understanding of
impact plasma formation and detection.
The ionization yield normalized to particle mass was found to
depend on impact speed to the power (3.4 ± 0.1) for iron and
(2.9 ± 0.1) for polypyrrole coated polystyrene and
aluminosilicate clay. The ioization signal rise time was found to
fall for all projectile materials from a few microseconds at low
impact speeds (3 km s-1) to a few tenths of a microsecond at
higher speeds (approximately 16 km s-1 for aluminosilicate
particles and approximately 28 km s-1 for iron and
polystyrene particles). At speeds greater than these the rise time
was a constant few tenths of a microsecond independent of impact
speed. The mass resolution of the time of flight spectrometer was
found to be non-linear at high masses above 100 amu. It was
= 5 for m = 1 amu and 40 for m = 200 amu. However,
although at high masses most mass peaks had the resolution quoted,
there were also occasional much narrower mass peaks observed,
suggesting that at 250 to 280 amu
= 80 to 100. The
lower resolutions may be due to closely spaced mass peak signals
effectively merging into one observed peak due to the (greater but
still finite) resolution found for the isolated mass peaks.
Complex mass spectra have been reproducibly obtained from a number
of different projectiles that display many charged molecular
fragments with masses up to 250 amu and with periodicities of
12–14 amu. These new studies reveal an extremely strong dependence
of the time-of-flight mass spectra on the impact speed,
particularly at low velocities (1–20 km s
. In some
impact velocity regimes it is possible to distinguish
time-of-flight spectra originating from organic microparticles
from those obtained from iron microparticles. However, such
discrimination was not possible at high impact speeds, nor was it
possible to distinguish between the time-of-flight spectra
obtained for aluminosilicate particles from those obtained for
iron projectiles.
Key words: solar system: general / interplanetary medium / instrumentation: detectors
© ESO, 2003
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