A TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASS SPECTROMETER FOR MONITORING OF FAST PROCESSES

摘要

Time-of-flight mass spectrometer instruments for monitoring fast processes using an interleaved timing scheme and a position sensitive detector (42,43) are described. One embodiment of the present invention consists of an apparatus comprising an ion source (1) and repetitively generating ions (4), an ion extractor (31) fluidly coupled to the ion source (1) and extracting ions from it for time-of-flight measurement in a time-of-flight mass section (3). A position sensitive ion detector (42,43) is fluidly coupled to the time-of-flight mass section (3) to detect the ions. The apparatus also has a timing controller (60) in electronic communication with the ion source (1) and the ion extractor (31). The timing controller (60) tracts and controls the time of activation of the ion source (1) and activates the ion extractor (31) according to a predetermined sequence. A data processing unit is in electronic communication with the ion source (1), the ion extractor (31), and the detector (41).