Faraday cup

noun

A conductive metal cup designed to catch charged particles in vacuum.

Meanings

nounFaraday cup (plural Faraday cups)

plural Faraday cups

  1. A conductive metal cup designed to catch charged particles in vacuum.

    Faraday cups are the detectors of choice for precise and accurate isotope ratio measurements.

    2014, Lothar Rottman et al., “Chapter 4: Technical Background”, in Thomas Prohaska, Johanna Irrgeher, Andreas Zitek, Norbert Jakubowski, editors, Sector Field Mass Spectrometry for Elemental and Isotopic Analysis, Royal Society of Chemistry, page 88
    2 more examples

    The inner cylinder of the Faraday cup is electrically connected to the brass plug, and is the electrically active part of the unit.

    1996, IBM Journal of Research and Development, Volume 40, International Business Machines Corporation, page 74

    In many mass spectrometers for electric ion detection a Faraday cup is generally used today for the direct and accurate measurement of ion currents of separated ion beams, especially if relatively high ion currents are to be measured.

    2007, Sabine Becker, Inorganic Mass Spectrometry: Principles and Applications, Wiley, page 103

Origin

Named after English scientist Michael Faraday (1791–1867), who first theorized ions around 1830.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

German Faraday-Becher, Faraday-Auffänger
  • Faraday-Bechermetal cup for catching charged particles
  • Faraday-Auffängermetal cup for catching charged particles
  • Faraday-Detektormetal cup for catching charged particles
  • Faraday-Tassemetal cup for catching charged particles
Italian coppa di Faraday, pozzo di Faraday
  • coppa di Faradaymetal cup for catching charged particles
  • pozzo di Faradaymetal cup for catching charged particles
Cite this entry
APA

Faraday cup. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Faraday%20cup

MLA

“Faraday cup.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Faraday%20cup. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Faraday cup,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Faraday%20cup.

Source: Faraday cup on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.