Amptek is a high technology company and a recognized world leader in the design and manufacture of state-of-the-art nuclear instrumentation for the satellite, x-ray and gamma ray detection, laboratory, analytical, and portable instrumentation industries.

Background

Amptek was founded in 1977 by Alan C. Huber and John A. Pantazis to fulfill the needs of space instrumentation for off-the-shelf, high performance, high reliability, small size and low power dissipation instruments and components. Shortly thereafter, Amptek hybrid preamplifiers became the standard for the space industry as they were used worldwide by instrument makers in both Earth satellites and deep space probes. Numerous plasma analyzers, electron, ion, and radiation monitoring detectors (CEASE) have been developed by Amptek and flown in both military and research spacecraft.

Space Related Products

Space applications of Amptek's products include hybrid preamplifiers and front-end electronics, plasma analyzers (ESA), and radiation monitors/dosimeters (CEASE). Some examples of space missions in which Amptek's products have been included or have been selected for flight are:

The Space Shuttle GIOTTO AMPTE SUISEI GALILEO CRRES DMSP FAST CHAMP

TIROS GOES SOLAR WIND SOHO CLUSTER GEOTAIL ROSETTA INTEGRAL

CASSINI CHANDRA (AXAF) NEAR TSX-5 STRV-1C DSP PATHFINDER Mission to Mars (U.S.A) PLANET-B Mission to Mars (Japan) MUSES-C

Commercial Products

Taking advantage of its experience in building hybrid circuits and satellite instrumentation Amptek developed the XR-100 X-ray detector for commercial use. After winning the coveted R&D 100 award in 1994, this simple to use, thermoelectrically cooled X-ray detector has been the technological breakthrough responsible for replacing cumbersome liquid nitrogen cooled detectors in many applications. Although developed for commercial use, the XR-100 was selected for the Pathfinder Mission to Mars where it successfully analyzed rocks and soil using X-Ray Fluorescence techniques (XRF). This successful instrument is becoming the detector of choice in numerous Original Equipment Manufacturers' (OEM) applications using the XRF method.

Other innovative products from Amptek have been the "Pocket MCA" Multichannel Analyzer for spectral analysis, the GAMMA-X and ROVER complete battery operated Gamma ray and X-ray spectroscopy systems, and the MD-501 & MD-502 electron and ion detectors.

Commercial Applications of Amptek's Products Include: