Eth Zurich, Eth Transfer

Eth Zurich

Tim Schulze-König

Hans-Arno Synal

Martin Suter

Suter Martin

A mass spectrometry system based on the general principle of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is disclosed. An ion source () generates a beam (B) of ions having a negative charge state. A first mass analyzer () transmits only ions having a predetermined mass. The ions are passed through a stripper target () comprising helium and/or hydrogen as a stripping gas to change the charge state of said ions from negative to positive charge and to dissociate molecular ions by collisions. A second mass analyzer () transmits ions in charge state 1+ having the predetermined mass, which are detected by a detector (). By using helium and/or hydrogen gas and detecting ions in charge state 1+, it becomes possible to use kinetic energies below 200 keV without excessive transmission losses due to angular straggling. At sufficiently low energies, no additional acceleration is required after ions have been extracted from the ion source. In alternative embodiments, no mass selection is carried out before charge exchange takes place.

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Heidelberg, Germany

Tim Schulze-König