Note: a short-pulse high-intensity molecular beam valve based on a piezoelectric stack actuator

Solenoid and piezoelectric disk valves, which are widely used to generate molecular beam pulses, still suffer from significant restrictions, such as pulse durations typically >50 μs, low repetition rates, and limited gas flows and operational times. Much of this arises owing to the limited forces...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of scientific instruments 2014-11, Vol.85 (11), p.116107-116107
Main Authors: Abeysekera, Chamara, Joalland, Baptiste, Shi, Yuanyuan, Kamasah, Alexander, Oldham, James M, Suits, Arthur G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ACTUATORS
Chemical Sciences
DESIGN
Disc valves
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
GAS FLOW
High voltages
INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
MOLECULAR BEAMS
OPERATION
Physics
PIEZOELECTRICITY
PULSES
Repetition
Scientific apparatus & instruments
SOLENOIDS
SWITCHES
VALVES
VELOCITY
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Summary:Solenoid and piezoelectric disk valves, which are widely used to generate molecular beam pulses, still suffer from significant restrictions, such as pulse durations typically >50 μs, low repetition rates, and limited gas flows and operational times. Much of this arises owing to the limited forces these actuators can achieve. To overcome these limitations, we have developed a new pulsed valve based on a high-force piezoelectric stack actuator. We show here that operation with pulse durations as low as 20 μs and repetition rates up to 100 Hz can be easily achieved by operating the valve in conjunction with a commercial fast high-voltage switch. We outline our design and demonstrate its performance with molecular beam characterization via velocity map ion imaging.
ISSN:0034-6748
1089-7623
DOI:10.1063/1.4902153