The imminent use of Nuclear Fusion as a sustainable and near inexhaustible energy source has many challenges for researchers looking to monitor and characterise the species used.
Conventional mass spectrometers are used to monitor vacuum quality and contaminant species ahead of the fusion process. However, their use in characterizing species used in fusion reactions is limited by the mass interferences that occur with the isotopes of light gases, deuterium and helium for example appear at mass 4.
The article describes the use of Threshold Ionization Mass Spectrometry (TIMS) and Ultra-high resolution Mass Spectrometry, both are effective in the characterization of typical species found in nuclear fusion.
Read the complete article here (First published in International Labmate, March 2022)
