A new airborne single particle mass spectrometer: PALMS-NG

Abstract

An updated version of the Particle Analysis by Laser Mass Spectrometry (PALMS) instrument, termed PALMS-NG (-Next Generation), has been designed to characterize particles in the troposphere and stratosphere. Two PALMS-NG instruments have been built: a Purdue University version, which has flown on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ER-2 and DC-8, and a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) version, which has flown on the NASA WB-57F. The general design and construction are nearly identical. New features and construction techniques are described here. These include a new inlet, optics for an extended size range of particle measurement, and a unique bipolar s-shape mass spectrometer with higher resolution. These make the -NG instrument a significant improvement over the original flight PALMS which was first flown 25 years ago.