Ion trapping mass spectrometry method and apparatus

摘要

An ion trapping mass spectrometer permitting highly sensitive mass spectrometry through in-situ observation. The mass spectrometer comprises ion trapping electrodes 10 SIMILAR 12, a laser device 21 for generating a cooling laser beam and a photo detector 24. The ion trapping electrodes generate a field in which to store sample ions and laser-cooled probe ions concurrently. The ions are cooled by laser as well as by the effect of sympathetic cooperative cooling, whereby intense resonance scattering light is acquired from the probe ions. An analyzing AC electromagnetic field is applied to the sample ions while the field is being scanned in frequency. Resulting changes in the resonance scattering light and spatial distribution of the probe ions are observed for mass spectrometry. <IMAGE>