SEE Co Activity Log

February 18 -21, 2010 – Ursinus College

Dr. Tom Kent spent the last three days working at lab of Prof. Codrina Popescu in the Chemistry Dept. of Ursinus College, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, USA. Ursinus College is a small, liberal arts college just northwest of Philadelphia. Prof. Popescu purchased a SEE Co 5K Closed Cycle He gas Refrigerator (CCR) Mossbauer system in 2005. She is able to pursue federally funded research with only undergraduate student research assistants. This is partially due to to ease of use of the SEE Co CCR Mossbauer system which uses no liquid cryogens. The student do not have to transfer liquid Helium or liquid Nitrogen which greatly reduces the risk of operating the cryogenics. The CCR Mossbauer cryostat in operation is shown below.

The cryostat features a convenient top-loading sample chamber with the sample immersed is a variable pressure, static He gas. Temperature control over a range of 5K to 32K is accomplished via heaters and Silicon diode temperature sensors located both at the top of the CCR cold finger and on the sample positioner. A SEE Co WTC102 temperature controller provides two closed loop PID 50 Watt control loops. Normally, the walls of the sample chamber are maintain at the desired temperature and the sample temperature monitored with the sensor on the sample positioner. This method avoids temperature gradients that can be generated when heating with the heater mounted on the Copper sample mount. Also the iso-thermal He exchange gas will permeate powder samples which may have ill-define thermal conductivity.

Dr. Kent's visit was an annual inspection / maintenance procedure that is part of the service contract purchased by Prof. Sorescu. Given the limited technical support available at Ursinus College, Prof. Sorescu finds an annual service contract an efficient and convenient method to keep her system in good condition and up to date.February 8 & 9, 2010 SEE Co, Edina, MN USA

Dr. Charles Johnson, Space Institute, University of Tennessee, visited SEE Co. to receive training in the operation of his newly purchased MS4 Mossbauer spectrometer and in the use of the WMOSS Mossbauer spectral analysis software. Dr. Johnson's new system, including a Ritverc 50 mCi Co-57/Rh source, will ship February 22.

January 28 & 29, 2010 McGill University

Dr. Tom Kent visited the lab of Prof. Dominic Ryan in the McGill University Physics Dept., Montreal, Canada on January 28 & 29. Dr. was providing consulting services to Prof Ryan regarding the operation of his Janis Research 5K CCR Mossbauer cryostat.

Several research groups at the University of California have been funded to set up a shared Mossbauer Spectroscopy laboratory. The equipment is being installed in Prof. Steve Cramer's labs at UC Davis, Davis, California, USA. The equipment includes two SEE Co MS4 spectrometers, a Janis Research Co. SVT-400 high efficiency LHe Super Varitemp cryostat and a Janis Research Co. 9 Tesla superconducting magnet cryostat. All the equipment was purchased through SEE Co and will be install by Dr. Tom Kent. During this visit, Dr. Kent was testing the SVT400 cryostat and horizontal gamma beam MS4 Mossbauer spectrometer. The 9 Tesla system with a vertical gamma beam geometry MS4 Mossbauer spectrometer will be tested soon. The two December 1, 2009 Knox College Prof. Charles Schultz, Physics Dept., Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, USA, has purchased a SEE Co. MS4 spectrometer. Dr. Kent visited Dr. Schultz in Galesburg to install the system and prepare for building and testing a variable temperature, vertical drive Mossbauer velocity transducer for Dr. Schultz.