Ion accumulation control for analytical instrument

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer software code which when executed on a processor causes an analytical instrument that comprises a first ion store and a second ion store arranged downstream of the first ion store to perform the steps of:

• determining whether a target accumulation time for the second ion store is greater than a threshold accumulation time;
• when it is determined that the target accumulation time is less than the threshold accumulation time:
• accumulating ions within the second ion store using an accumulation time based on the target accumulation time;
• and
• when it is determined that the target accumulation time is greater than the threshold accumulation time:
• accumulating ions within the first ion store using a first accumulation time based on a difference between the target accumulation time and the threshold accumulation time, passing the ions accumulated in the first ion store to the second ion store, and accumulating further ions within the second ion store using a second accumulation time based on the threshold accumulation time.

An analytical instrument, such as a mass spectrometer, comprising:

• a first ion store;
• a second ion store, wherein the second ion store is arranged downstream of the first ion store;
• and
• a control system configured to:
• determine whether a target accumulation time for the second ion store is greater than a threshold accumulation time;
• when it is determined that the target accumulation time is less than the threshold accumulation time:
• cause ions to be accumulated within the second ion store using an accumulation time based on the target accumulation time;
• and
• when it is determined that the target accumulation time is greater than the threshold accumulation time:
• cause ions to be accumulated within the first ion store using a first accumulation time based on a difference between the target accumulation time and the threshold accumulation time, cause the ions accumulated in the first ion store to be passed to the second ion store, and cause further ions to be accumulated within the second ion store using a second accumulation time based on the threshold accumulation time.