Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) Gmbh

Thermo Finnigan LLC

California Institute of Technology

Thermo Fisher Scientific Gmbh

Dmitry E Grinfeld

Alexander Alekseevich Makarov

Hamish Stewart

Mikhail A Monastyrskiy

Eduard V Denisov

Christian Hock

Philipp Cochems

Bernd Hagedorn

Viatcheslav V Kovtoun

Alexander Kholomeev

Jan-Peter Hauschild

Mikhail V Ugarov

Gregor Quiring

Alexander Wagner

Matthias Biel

Mikhail Belov

Richard Heming

Konstantin Aizikov

Robert Ostermann

Michael W Senko

Michael Roukes

Wilko Balschun

Anastassios Giannakopulos

Ping F Yip

Eric Wapelhorst

Amelia Corinne Peterson

Frank Czemper

Steven C Beu

Konstantin Ayzikov

Kyle Fort

Tabiwang Arrey

Johannes Petzoldt

Mikhail Skoblin

Warren Fon

Stewart Hamish

Ralf Günter Hartmer

An ion trapcomprises one ejection electrodefor ion trapping having an opening, through which ions in the ion trapcan be ejected in an ejection direction E and further electrodesfor ion trapping, wherein the ejection electrodeand the further electrodesare elongated in a longitudinal direction L. The angle α between the longitudinal direction L and the ejection direction E is nearly 90°. The ion trapcomprises a primary windingconnected to an RF power supply, a secondary windingcoupling with the primary windingfor transforming the RF voltage of the RF power supplysupplying the transformed RF signals to the ejection electrodeand secondary windings' coupling with the primary windingfor transforming the RF voltage of the RF power supplysupplying the transformed RF signals to the further electrodes

Ion trap with elongated electrodes

A Time of Flight (TOF) mass analyser comprises an ion source, a detector, an electrode, and a resistive divider comprising first and second resistors. The ion source and the detector define an ion flight path from the ion source to the detector. The electrode is arranged along the ion flight path and receives an output voltage. Thermal expansion produces a first mass shift/Kelvin of detected ions. The resistive divider is thermally coupled to the TOF mass analyser to receive an input voltage and output an output voltage to the electrode. The first and second resistors have respective first and second temperature coefficients that provide a voltage shift/Kelvin to the output voltage to the electrode producing a second mass shift/Kelvin of detected ions, compensating for the first mass shift/Kelvin.

Time of Flight mass analyser and method of Time of Flight mass spectrometry

A mass spectrometer comprises: a first ion optical device in a relatively low gas pressure region; a second ion optical device in a relatively high gas pressure region, the first and second ion optical devices receiving respective RF voltages from respective RF power supplies for generating respective RF fields that confine ions in respective trapping regions of the ion optical devices; and a gas conductance restriction, restricting gas flow from the relatively high gas pressure region to the relatively low gas pressure region, the gas conductance restriction having an aperture to allow ions to pass from the second to the first ion optical device. The first and second RF power supplies are independent to allow the RF voltages for generating the first RF field to have a different amplitude from the RF voltages for generating the second RF field.

Ion transport between ion optical devices at different gas pressures

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media described provide multi-reflection time-of-flight analyser (e.g. of a type in which the ion beam is allowed to spread out relatively broadly) and methods for use in a zoom mode, in which time-of-flight perturbations induced by reflections at the deflector are cancelled out or removed, such that they do not give rise to a significant increase in the arrival time spread of ions at the detector. This accordingly facilitates high resolution operation of the analyser in the zoom mode. Furthermore, this is done in a way which allows the analyser to remain drift focused, which in turn means that the analyser can be straightforwardly and seamlessly switched between its normal mode of operation and the zoom mode of operation.

High resolution multi-reflection time-of-flight mass analyser

A voltage supply for a mass analyser is provided. The voltage supply comprises a voltage source, a first voltage output, a second voltage output, and a voltage divider network. The first voltage output is configured to provide a first voltage to a first electrode of the mass analyser, wherein the first electrode of the mass analyser has a first mass shift per volt perturbation. The second voltage output is configured to provide a second voltage to a second electrode of the mass analyser, wherein the second electrode of the mass analyser has a second mass shift per volt perturbation. The second mass shift per volt perturbation opposes the first mass shift per volt perturbation. The voltage divider network comprises a first resistor and a second resistor.

Voltage supply for a mass analyser

A method of operating an instrument which comprises a first and second ion stores, comprising determining whether a target accumulation time for the second ion store is greater than a threshold accumulation time. When the target accumulation time is less than the threshold accumulation time, ions are accumulated within the second ion store using an accumulation time that is based on the target accumulation time. When the target accumulation time is greater than the threshold accumulation time, ions are accumulated within the first ion store using a first accumulation time that is based on a difference between the target accumulation time and the threshold accumulation time, the ions accumulated in the first ion store are passed to the second ion store, and further ions are accumulated within the second ion store using a second accumulation time that is based on the threshold accumulation time.

Ion accumulation control for analytical instrument

An electrostatic ion trap or an array of electrostatic ion traps are provided having a longitudinal length of no more than 10 mm and/or at least one electrode with a capacitance to ground of no more than 1 pF. First and second sets of planar electrodes may be distributed along the longitudinal axis, at least some of the which are configured to receive an electrostatic potential for confinement of ions received in the space between the first and second sets of planar electrodes. An array may comprise an inlet for receiving an ion beam, configured such that a portion of the ion beam can be trapped in each of the ion traps. Signals indicative of ion mass and charge data may be obtained from multiple electrostatic ion traps in the array. This mass and charge data may be combined for identification of components of a mixture of different analyte ions.

Electrostatic ion trap configuration

A method for correcting mass spectral data obtained for a sample is described, where the mass spectral data is a time-of-flight mass spectral data. The method includes receiving mass spectral data obtained from a sample, the mass spectral data being indicative of an ion abundance. The method further includes applying a correction function to the mass spectral data based on the ion abundance indicated by the mass spectral data and on one or more trapping parameters associated with the mass spectral data. The correction function defines correction values for the mass spectral data for a range of ion abundances and for a range of trapping parameters.

Method for correcting mass spectral data

Provided herein are methods and systems for controlling the number of ions in a batch of ions accumulated in an ion trap. The ion trap comprises one or more detection electrodes configured to detect image current signals from ions accumulated within the ion trap. An ion or group of ions passed to the ion trap is caused to impact upon one or more of the detection electrode(s) of the ion trap so as to provide a detected signal. An ion current or charge of the ion or group of ions is determined from the detected signal, and the determined ion current or charge of the ion or group of ions is used to control the number of ions in a batch of ions subsequently accumulated in the ion trap.

Charge detection for ion accumulation control

Apparatus and methods for performing charge detection mass spectrometry for measurement of the mass of a single ion of interest are disclosed. The ion of interest is caused to undergo harmonic oscillatory movement in the trapping field of an electrostatic trap, such that an image current detector generates a time-varying signal representative of the ion's oscillatory movement. This time-varying signal (transient) is processed (e.g., via a Fourier transform) to derive the ion's frequency and consequently determine the ion's mass-to-charge ratio (m/z). Ion charge is determined by construction of a Selective Temporal Overview of Resonant Ion (STORI) plot, which tracks the temporal evolution of signals attributable to the ion of interest, and where the slope of the STORI plot is related to the charge. The STORI plot may also be employed to identify ion decay events during transient acquisition and/or the presence of multiple ions of the same mass or non-resolvable ions.

Charge detection mass spectrometry utilizing harmonic oscillation and selective temporal overview of resonant ion (STORI) plots

A method of gain calibration for an ion detector operating at a detector voltage is described. The method includes steps of: generating single ions; determining a parameter of a first relationship between a detector output of an ion detector and a number of ions for a first detector voltage; detecting an ion peak at the ion detector using the first detector voltage; adjusting the detector voltage; and determining a parameter of a second relationship between the detector output and the number of ions for the second detector voltage. A system including a mass spectrometer arrangement and a controller configured to operate the mass spectrometer arrangement in accordance with this method is also described.

Method of gain calibration

The ion trap comprises a multipole electrode assembly, a first confining electrode, and a second confining electrode. The multipole electrode assembly is configured to confine ions of the first polarity to an ion channel extending in an axial direction of the multipole electrode assembly. The first confining electrode is provided adjacent to the multipole electrode assembly and extends in the axial direction of the multipole electrode assembly. The second confining electrode is provided adjacent to the multipole electrode assembly and extends in the axial direction of the multipole electrode assembly aligned with the first confining electrode. The first and second confining electrodes are spaced apart in the axial direction in order to define an ion confining region of the ion channel between the first and second confining electrodes. The first and second confining electrodes are configured to receive a DC potential of the first polarity to further confine ions within the ion channel in the ion confining region.

Ion trap

Ions are injected into an orbital electrostatic trap. An ejection potential is applied to an ion storage device, to cause ions stored in the ion storage device to be ejected towards the orbital electrostatic trap. Synchronous injection potentials are applied to a central electrode of the orbital electrostatic trap and a deflector electrode associated with the orbital electrostatic trap, to cause the ions ejected from the ion storage device to be captured by the electrostatic trap such that they orbit the central electrode. Application of the ejection potential and application of the synchronous injection potentials are each started at respective different times, the difference in times being selected based on desired values of mass-to-charge ratios of ions to be captured by the orbital electrostatic trap.

Ion injection to an electrostatic trap

A time-of-flight (ToF) mass spectrometer, comprising: a pulsed ion injector for forming an ion beam that travels along an ion path; a detector for detecting ions in the ion beam that arrive at the detector at times according to their m/z values; an ion focusing arrangement located between the ion injector and the detector for focusing the ion beam in at least one direction orthogonal to the ion path; and a variable voltage supply for supplying the ion focusing arrangement with at least one variable voltage that is dependent on a charge state and/or an amount of ions of at least one species of ions in the ion beam. A corresponding method of mass spectrometry is provided. The charge state and/or an amount of ions may be acquired from a pre-scan, or predicted. Tuning of the spectrometer based on a charge state and/or an amount of ions of at least one species of ions in the ion beam may be performed on the fly.

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Bremen, Germany

Dmitry E Grinfeld