Open trap mass spectrometer

Abstract

An open electrostatic trap mass spectrometer is disclosed for operation with wide and diverging ion packets. Signal on detector is composed of signals corresponding to multiplicity of ion cycles, called multiplets. Using reproducible distribution of relative intensity within multiplets, the signal can be unscrambled for relatively sparse spectra, such as spectra past fragmentation cell of tandem mass spectrometer, past ion mobility and differential ion mobility separators. Various embodiments are provided for particular pulsed ion sources and pulsed converters such as orthogonal accelerators, ion guides, and ion traps. The method and apparatus enhance the duty cycle of pulsed converters, improve space charge tolerance of the open trap analyzer and extends the dynamic range of time-of-flight detectors.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates generally to the field of mass spectrometry, electrostatic traps, and multipass time-of-flight mass spectrometers, and more particularly to devices and methods of use comprising open electrostatic traps having non-fixed flight paths. [0002] definition [0003] The present application proposes a novel apparatus and method named herein as "Open Electrostatic Trap". Its characteristics are similar to those of both conventional electrostatic trap (E-trap) and multipass time-of-flight (M-TOF) mass spectrometers. In all three cases, the pulsed ion packets undergo multiple simultaneous oscillations (reflections or turns) within the electrostatic analyzer. The differences between these techniques are defined by the arrangement of electrostatic fields, by ion trajectories and by detection principles. In a conventional E-trap, the field traps ions in all three directions, and ions can be trapped indefinitely. In M-TOF, ion packe...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The slow acquisition speed combined with the space charge limitation of the C-trap limits the duty cycle of the mass spectrometer to 0.3% in the worst case

[0012] Thus, in an attempt to achieve high resolution, state-of-the-art electrostatic traps with image charge detection and multipass time-of-flight mass spectrometers limit the accepted ion flux to below 1E+7i / s, which in the worst case Limits effective duty cycle to less than 0.3 to 1%

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