A TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASS SPECTROMETER AND A METHOD OF ANALYSING IONS IN A TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASS SPECTROMETER

摘要

A time-of-flight mass spectrometer (1) comprises an ion source a segmented linear ion device (10) for receiving sample ions supplied by the ion source and a time-of-flight mass analyser for analysing ions ejected from the segmented device. A trapping voltage is applied to the segmented device to trap ions initially into a group of two or more adjacent segments and subsequently to trap them in a region of the segmented device shorter than the group of segments. The trapping voltage may also be effective to provide a uniform trapping field along the length of the device (10).