The development of a system for the operation of an ion kinetic energy spectrometer under computer control

A system incorporating a PDP8e computer and a dual-drive 'floppy' disk system has been developed to control the ZAB-2F mass and ion kinetic energy spectrometer. The system allows a complete mass-analyzed ion kinetic energy (MIKE) spectrum, or up to eleven pre-selected regions of such a spectrum to be scanned. Signal averaging, successive 3-point smoothings and subtraction of peaks are three features available. Information can be displayed either from a complete spectrum or selected parts of a spectrum on a display terminal, on a pen recorder or in the form of numerical information on a line printer. The floppy disk facility allows the system to be used by a number of students, each of whom can store experimental data on his own disks and can gain experience of the effects of processing these data in various ways without destroying the original data acquired. (Auth.)