The Americium is there for the ionization chamber, which is very simple.
From the thestate.com
Now when smoke enters the ionization chamber, it disrupts this current.
From the thestate.com
This occurs in the detector's ionization chamber where it produces charged particles or ions.
From the en.wikipedia.org
The smoke particles attach to the ions and neutralize them, so the ions never make it to the plates of the ionization chamber.
From the thestate.com
The experiment involved placing uranium oxide inside of an ionization chamber and irradiating it with neutrons, and measuring the energy thus released.
From the en.wikipedia.org
The ionization chamber is the simplest of these detectors, and collects all the charges created by direct ionisation within the gas through the application of an electric field.
From the en.wikipedia.org
A radioactive metallic element, americium is an actinide that is used in commercial ionization chamber smoke detectors, as well as in neutron sources and industrial gauges.
From the en.wikipedia.org
Conventional mass spectrometry requires chemical separations, manipulations of samples and containment in a vacuum chamber for ionization and analysis.
From the sciencedaily.com
Cooks'technology performs the ionization step in the air or directly on surfaces outside of the mass spectrometer's vacuum chamber, making the process much faster and more portable, Ifa said.