Artists impression of ALMA at the Atacama site in Chile
QMC Instruments Ltd. operates within the School of Physics and Astronomy at Cardiff University where it develops instrumentation for the detection and processing of electromagnetic radiation ranging from Microwaves to the Near-Infrared.
The company produces a long-established range of cryogenic detectors and associated components and instruments which are used in diverse applications such as atmospheric remote sensing, astronomy, semiconductor materials characterisation, hot plasma fusion diagnostics and electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. Our more recent work includes a multi-channel FIR detector for laser interferometry of the plasma in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in Hefei, China, anti-reflection coated vacuum windows for the Herschel Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI), and band-selection filters for the Herschel Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS.) The Herschel satellite was launched in May 2009. We are currently supplying windows and cooled polarisers for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chajnantor in the Chilean Andes.
Thomas Keating - Toolmaking
CNC Jig Grinding of racing car parts
The commercial origins of Thomas Keating Ltd. stretch back into the 18th Century, and the company has been making high precision tooling, such as press tools, gauges and injection moulds for well over fifty years.
We aim to give a complete tool-making service, from initial design to tool tryout and maintenance support. We combine traditional skills with modern machining techniques and management procedures. The introduction of CNC Jig Grinding has significantly widened our scope. We produce precision components in areas such as medicine, aerospace, racing cars, and packaging.
Thomas Keating - Instruments
94 GHz HiPER Pulsed ESR Spectometer in St. Andrews
The scientific instruments side of Thomas Keating Ltd. draws on our tool-making skills. We design and develop quasi-optical Terahertz systems and subsystems. We have growing activity in High Field Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) spectroscopy and remote sensing instrumentation, including space-borne projects. These newer areas compliment our more established applications like Plasma Fusion diagnostics and material characterisation.
Our space-borne work has included optical components for the AMSU-B water vapour radiometers and their derivative projects, subsystems for JAXA's BrO monitoring limb-sounder, JEM SMILES, the High Frequency Instrument (HFI) feeds for the Planck Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) mission launched in May 2009, and the multiplexer on the 94 GHz pulsed cloud radar on EarthCARE.
