ULTRASENSITIVE DIFFERENTIAL MICROCALORIMETER

A differential calorimeter includes sample and reference cells, a thermal shield surrounding these cells, heating devices thermally coupled to the thermal shield and the cells, a temperature monitoring system for monitoring temperature of the shield, cell temperatures and temperature differentials between the cells and the shield, and a control system. The control system has input lines to receive signals from the temperature sensors and output lines connected to the heating devices. The control system is configured to generate output signals for control of heating devices. A gain setting and scan rate are selected by means of a user interface. The output control signals are functions of input temperature signals and the user-selected gain setting, and also functions of input temperature signals and the user-selected scan rate using a mapping function stored in memory.