Multimode ion mirror prism and energy filtering apparatus and system for time-of-flight mass spectrometry

A mass analyzing system for time-of-flight (“TOF”) mass spectrometry analysis, the system coupleable to a pulsed ion source providing a first, pulsed ion beam having an input TOF focus, the system comprising:

• an electrostatic mirror prism arrangement comprising:
• a first electrostatic mirror prism having a first plurality of planar electrodes to generate a first retarding electric field to reflect the first ion beam and provide a second, intermediate ion beam having a spatial dispersion of ions proportional to ion kinetic energies, the second ion beam having an second, intermediate TOF focus;
• a second electrostatic mirror prism spaced apart from the first electrostatic mirror prism by a first predetermined distance and further arranged to have a predetermined first angular offset from the first electrostatic mirror prism, the second electrostatic mirror prism having a second plurality of planar electrodes to generate a second retarding electric field to reflect the second ion beam and converge the spatial dispersion of ions to provide a third, recombined ion beam, the third ion beam having a third TOF focus;
• a third electrostatic mirror prism having a third plurality of planar electrodes to generate a third retarding electric field to reflect the third ion beam and provide a fourth ion beam having a spatial dispersion of ions proportional to ion kinetic energies, the fourth ion beam having a fourth, intermediate TOF focus;
• and
• a fourth electrostatic mirror prism spaced apart from the third electrostatic mirror prism by a second predetermined distance and further arranged to have a predetermined second angular offset from the third electrostatic mirror prism, the fourth electrostatic mirror prism having a fourth plurality of planar electrodes to generate a fourth retarding electric field to reflect the fourth ion beam and converge the spatial dispersion of ions to provide a fifth, recombined ion beam, the fifth ion beam having a fifth, output TOF focus;
• and
• an ion detector arranged at the fifth, output TOF focus to receive the fifth ion beam, the ion detector adapted to detect a plurality of ions of the fifth ion beam.

A mass analyzing system for time-of-flight (“TOF”) mass spectrometry analysis, the system coupleable to a pulsed ion source providing a first, pulsed ion beam having an input TOF focus, the system comprising:

• a plurality of pairs of electrostatic mirror prisms, each pair of electrostatic mirror prisms of the plurality of pairs of electrostatic mirror prisms comprising:
• a first electrostatic mirror prism having a first plurality of planar electrodes to generate a first retarding electric field to reflect the first ion beam or a next recombined ion beam and provide an intermediate ion beam having a spatial dispersion of ions proportional to ion kinetic energies, the intermediate ion beam having a intermediate TOF focus;
• and
• a second electrostatic mirror prism spaced apart from the first electrostatic mirror prism by a first predetermined distance and further arranged to have a predetermined first angular offset from the first electrostatic mirror prism, the second electrostatic mirror prism having a second plurality of planar electrodes to generate a second retarding electric field to reflect the intermediate ion beam and converge the spatial dispersion of ions to provide the next recombined ion beam, the next recombined ion beam having a combined output-input TOF focus;
• a bandpass filter having a moveable energy bandpass control slit, the bandpass filter arranged at at least one intermediate TOF focus of a plurality of intermediate TOF focuses provided by the plurality of pairs of electrostatic mirror prisms, to selectively allow propagation of ions of a corresponding intermediate ion beam having a selected range of ion kinetic energies;
• and
• an ion detector arranged at the combined output-input TOF focus to receive the next recombined ion beam provided by a last pair of electrostatic mirror prisms of the plurality of pairs of electrostatic mirror prisms, the ion detector adapted to detect a plurality of ions of the next recombined ion beam.