METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPROVING THE THROUGHPUT OF A CHARGED PARTICLE ANALYSIS SYSTEM

摘要

A method of increasing ion throughput within an accumulator, an energy lift and a pulsed ion extractor, operated in that order upon a batch of ions, comprising the steps of: firstly loading a batch of ions into the accumulator; secondly changing the electrical potential of the energy lift to raise the energy of the batch of ions contained therein; and thirdly ejecting the batch of ions from the pulsed ion extractor; and wherein: the energy lift is a separate device from the accumulator and the pulsed ion extractor, and whilst changing the electrical potential in the second step a fresh batch of ions is loaded into the accumulator and/or a previous batch of ions is prepared for ejection in the pulsed ion extractor; or the energy lift is incorporated into the pulsed ion extractor and whilst changing the electrical potential in the second step a fresh batch of ions is loaded into the accumulator; or the energy lift is incorporated into the accumulator and whilst changing the electrical potential in the second step a previous batch of ions is prepared for ejection in the pulsed ion extractor. A charged particle analyzer system is also provided.