Sturbridge, MA - PHOTONIS USA, a leading electro-optic manufacturer, announced the release of its new Gen2 UltraFast™ Time-of-Flight Detector. The new detector has been designed to reach speeds that are twice as fast as standard time-of-flight (TOF) detectors. The new product will be on display at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry conference in Salt Lake City, May 23-28, 2010.

In mass spectrometry instrumentation, resolution is often limited by the performance characteristics of the detector. PHOTONIS’ new Gen2 UltraFast™ TOF Detector is designed to address two major areas which affect resolution in time-of-flight mass spectrometry: microchannel plate (MCP) flatness and anode performance. The compact detector assembly, with an 18mm input area, is designed for front-flange mounting to minimize tolerance stackup and to maintain a parallel plane between the input surface and the arriving ion packet.

The new Gen2 UltraFast™ detector is equipped with PHOTONIS’ patented MountingPad™ 2μm pore microchannel plates which use TruFlite™ MCP flatness technology for a significant reduction in time jitter. The PHOTONIS Gen2 UltraFast™ TOF Detector provides pulse widths of less than 200 picoseconds and near-symmetrical 120 picosecond rise and fall times, producing a detector with exceptional levels of detection sensitivity and mass resolution which is unmatched by standard TOF detectors on the market

PHOTONIS is a multinational high-technology group, with more than 40 years experience in manufacture, sales and innovation, specializing in photo sensor technology. The Group operates internationally in the Night Vision, Industrial, Scientific and Medical Imaging markets. PHOTONIS USA designs and manufactures a wide range of custom and standard components and assemblies for mass spectroscopy as well as other medical, bio-medical and scientific instruments and holds several patents in these fields.