Ion source and mass spectrometer including the same

A mass spectrometer comprising:

• a control unit;
• and
• an ion source including:
• an atomizer configured to continuously introduce a liquid sample and atomize the liquid sample,
• a heating and mixing chamber configured to vaporize the atomized liquid sample, and
• a charge supply unit configured to ionize the vaporized liquid sample, wherein
• the charge supply unit has a positive pressure with respect to the heating and mixing chamber,
• the vaporized liquid sample and a gaseous seed ion supplied from the charge supply unit are mixed in the heating and mixing chamber,
• an auxiliary gas for adjusting a gas flow rate in the heating and mixing chamber can be introduced into the heating and mixing chamber,
• the heating and mixing chamber has a chamber outlet configured to introduce the ionized liquid sample into a mass spectrometer,
• the chamber outlet is connected to a first pore of the mass spectrometer, and
• the heating and mixing chamber and the first pore are in contact with each other, and heat can be transferred between the heating and mixing chamber and the first pore, and
• wherein the control unit determines a flow rate of the auxiliary gas based on a difference between a sum of a flow rate of the liquid sample introduced into the atomizer and a flow rate of a seed ion gas supplied to the charge supply unit and a flow rate of a gas passing through the first pore.