Resonance Ltd. has developed systems to expose spacecraft materials to thermal atomic oxygen and VUV-UV light that simulates low earth orbit conditions. Oxygen atoms are produced upstream from the exposure chamber by radio frequency dissociation of O2. Atomic oxygen concentrations to 10^15 atoms/cm^3 can be generated with the high power RFX-500 generator. This is comparable to an atomic oxygen flux of roughly
2x10^16 cm^2/sec (equivalent 5 eV atomic flux measured with
Kapton dosimeter).
The oxygen density profile across the material sample can be measured in-situ with the Resonance Ltd. Atomic Oxygen Density Profiler using the technique of resonance absorption.
Resonance also provides light sources from 30 to > 1,000 nm that simulate the solar spectrum. The Atomic Oxygen Density Profiler and Solar Simulator Sources can be easily adapted to existing atomic oxygen exposure systems.
AO systems from Resonance have been used by Canadian Space
Agency, by Stanford University, University of Tokyo, Los Alamos
FEATURES:
Simulates Low Earth Orbit Erosion
Samples exposed to continuous stream of thermal Oxygen atoms
High Flux
Atomic oxygen fluxes up to 3 x 10^19 atoms/cm2/sec
Quick Turn Around
Measurable erosion of Kapton by weight loss in ? hour Typical
sample exposure time is 2 hours
Solar Simulation
Calibrated Solar simulation using VUV UV and Visible light
sources and detectors
No Interferents
Samples are downstream from active plasma and are not exposed to
uncontrolled ions, metastables or UV radiation as in plasma ashers
In-Situ Atomic Oxygen Density Profile
Atomic oxygen density profile is measured by resonance absorption
of VUV line
Thermal Controlled Sample Holder
Sample holder can be heated to increase erosion rate. Thermal- vacuum cycling of the sample is also available