MASS SPECTROSCOPY APPLIED to GAS LEAK DETECTION and FUEL IONIZATION by JAYANTH POTHIREDDY a THESIS PRESENTED to the GRADUATE
MASS SPECTROSCOPY APPLIED TO GAS LEAK DETECTION AND FUEL IONIZATION By JAYANTH POTHIREDDY A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2003 Copyright 2003 by Jayanth Pothireddy To my friends ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to sincerely thank Dr. Corin Segal for giving me this wonderful opportunity and for his unlimited support, understanding and incredible patience without which I would not have successfully completed my thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. David Mikolaitis and Dr. Martin Vala for their support and Dr. Norman Fitz-Coy for his valuable suggestions. Many thanks go to Mr. Jan Szczepanski for giving me “first lessons” on mass spectrometry, invaluable suggestions, tremendous support and help in developing the mass spectrometry system. My heartfelt thanks go to my friends Venkat, Sujith, Gopi, Anand, “Iranian bros” Amir and Omid, Weizhong, Sampath, Harsha, Adil, Anant, Sasidhar, Charan, Danny, Jonas, Nelson, Zhu Wei, Ron, “Dr” Amit, Errol, Anurag, Priya, Amit “Saale” and Balaji for their support and understanding. I thank Ron Brown for constructing a nice model of the Space Shuttle aft compartment and for his help in moving the mass spectrometer cart to and fro from “chemistry” to “aero.” iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................. iv LIST OF FIGURES...........................................................................................................vii
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