We are developing the spatial uniformity of superconducting tunnel junction detectors with a size of 200 {micro}m is improved by increasing the Al thickness of the Nb/Al proximitized electrodes in an energy range of 5-10 keV, which is in the same order as an acceleration energy in time-of-flight mass spectroscopy (TOF-MS). It has been confirmed in TOF experiments with Ta ions and Ta clusters that the proximitized junction detectors clearly separate different ionic states and multi-hit events in impact energy spectra, and moreover can reveal a difference in ion species or ion-surface collision dynamics. However, a better spatial uniformity is not always good for TOF-MS, because a detector with the thicker Al layers has a lower superconducting energy gap, which results in improper detector operation because of a temperature rise due to heat radiation.

We report the results of Raman measurements of various materials under simultaneous conditions of high temperature and high pressure in the diamond anvil cell (DAC). High temperatures are generated by laser heating or internal resistive (ohmic) heating or a combination of both. We present Raman spectra of cubic boron nitride (cBN) to 40 GPa and up to 2300 K that show a continuous pressure and temperature shift of the frequency of the transverse optical mode. We have also obtained high-pressure Raman spectra from a new noble metal nitride, which we synthesized at approximately 50 GPa and 2000 K. We have obtained high-temperature spectra from pure nitrogen to 39 GPa and up to 2000 K, which show the presence of a hot band that has previously been observed in CARS measurements. These measurements have also allowed us to constrain the melting curve and to examine changes in the intramolecular potential with pressure.