Orthogonal time-of flight mass spectrometers with low mass discrimination

摘要

The invention relates to time-of-flight mass spectrometers with orthogonal ion injection to which the ions are fed by an RF ion guide. The mass-dependent speed of the ions causes a mass discrimination when injected into the pulser of the time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The invention consists in compensating the mass discrimination by designing at least a part of the ion guide as an ion storage device, by emptying the filled ion storage device mass-selectively portion by portion, by feeding the ion portions to the pulser with correct timing, using the mass selectivity of the pulser filling process to compensate for any mass discrimination.