A new technique for time-resolved daughter ion mass spectrometry on the microsecond to millisecond time scale using an electrostatic ion storage ring

Rev Sci Instrum. 2008 Feb;79(2 Pt 1):023107. doi: 10.1063/1.2884121.

Abstract

A new method for time-resolved daughter ion mass spectrometry is presented, based on the electrostatic ion storage ring in Aarhus, ELISA. Ions with high internal energy, e.g., as a result of photoexcitation, dissociate and the yield of neutrals is monitored as a function of time. This gives information on lifetimes in the microsecond to millisecond time range but no information on the fragment masses. To determine the dissociation channels, we have introduced pulsed supplies with switching times of a few microseconds. This allows rapid switching from storage of parent ions to storage of daughter ions, which are dumped into a detector after a number of revolutions in the ring. A fragment mass spectrum is obtained by monitoring the daughter ion signal as a function of the ring voltages. This technique allows identification of the dissociation channels and determination of the time dependent competition between these channels.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Electric Power Supplies*
  • Electromagnetic Phenomena / instrumentation*
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / instrumentation*
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / instrumentation*
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / methods
  • Static Electricity*
  • Time Factors
  • Transducers*