演題概要

受賞講演

第2日 5月15日(木) 17:50~18:05 A会場(オービットホール)

超伝導分子検出器の開発とその有効性の実証

(産総研)
o大久保雅隆

Superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) detectors for molecules have an ability to measure kinetic energy of atoms and molecules in an energy range of ~100 eV and ~100 keV as well as the time of single molecules impact events. This unusual performance is realized by a small superconducting energy gap of ~meV, which is lower than the energies of phonons that are the quanta of crystal lattice vibration. Therefore, superconducting detectors are sensitive to lattice vibration produced by molecule impact, but insensitive to surface contamination. Output pulse height is determined by the energy deposited to the detector surface, which is proportional to zV [eV]. This molecule detection mechanism is totally different from secondary electron emission that is used in conventional molecule detectors. Consequently, it is possible to determine m/z and z of ions simultaneously. STJ detectors can solve the two problems of “m/z overlap” of different charge states, and “neutral loss” in tandem mass spectrometry. Nobody has distinguished between 14N22+ and N+ before us. Furthermore, gas phase ion reactions that produce neutral fragments only can be analyzed without re-ionization.