Facilities
CCLDAS maintains a diverse set of experimental facilities. The centerpiece of the laboratory is a hypervelocity dust accelerator, scheduled for commissioning in Spring of 2011, designed to enable scientific studies and instrument calibration related to high-speed (up to 100 km/sec) dust impact. We also maintain a number of smaller chambers for carrying out small-scale dusty plasma experiments.
CCLDAS facilities, including the dust accelerator, are available for use by scientists and students from other institutions.
Dust Accelerator
The dust accelerator at CCLDAS is the designed to support investigation into to the physics of micrometeorid impacts, high-velocity dust in the lunar environment, as well as instrument calibration and testing. Dust particles are accelerated electrostatically; a Pelletron generates a 3 MV potential inside a housing filled with protective SF6 atmosphere (separated from vacuum). A dust source mounted inside injects highly charged dust particles for acceleration. After exiting the Pelletron, the particle transits a set of pick-up detectors for the initial determination of the charge, mass and velocity. A particle selection unit (PSU) utilizes a set of HV deflection plates to stop particles outside the desired mass and velocity range from entering the experimental chamber. The third pick-up detector confirms the particle's arrival.
Accelerator facts:- Energies up to 3 MV
- Particle sizes: 0.2 - 2.5 microns
- Particle velocities: 1 - 100 km/s
LEIL: Lunar Environment Impact Laboratory
LEIL is a 1.2 m diameter, 1.5 m length chamber designed to support a wide variety of experiments on dusty plasmas and impact physics. It is capable of supporting high-intensity UV lamps suitable for photoionization, a solar wind simulator, realistic regolith base plane, and various diagnostic instruments, for comprehensive simulation of the lunar surface dusty plasma environment. A second, smaller, UHV chamber is under development for more detailed measurements of micrometeor impacts and solar wind sputtering.
DDPL: Duane Dusty Plasma Laboratory
Photos of some of the CCLDAS equipment.
CCLDAS has a wide range of other chambers and experiments that are used to investigate small-scale physics that pertain to the lunar dusty plasma environment. Collectively, these experiments are known as the Duane Dusty Plasma Laboratory (DDPL).
Experiments can include:- Exposure to UV beams
- Exposure to electrons and ions of designated energies
Diagnostic capabilities:
- Charges of individual grains
- Standard Langmuir probe and/or emissive probe scan
- Imaging, stills and movies
Chamber sizes:
- 30 cm in diameter and 35 or 70 cm long, base pressure ~6 x 10-7 Torr
- 51 cm in diameter and 28 cm high, base pressure <1 x 10-6 Torr
For questions regarding the use of any of CCLDAS' facilities, please contact:
Professor Mihály Horányi
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
1234 Innovation Drive
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80303
Telephone: 303-492-6903