Ion trap and method for detecting ions in an ion trap
AssigneeEdwards Vacuum LLC
InventorNicholai William Salovich
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and ion trap for detecting ions in the ion trap. The method comprises: Providing ionized ions to the ion trap; Creating an RF storage field by applying a RF storage signal to a first electrode of the ion trap, wherein the storage voltage VRF and/or the storage frequency ΩRF of the RF storage signal is modified; Applying an excitation signal to the ions in the ion trap; Detecting an image current signal induced to a second electrode, a third electrode or differentially between the second and third electrodes by oscillation of the ions excited by the excitation signal; and Applying an FFT to the detected image current signal to detect the ion oscillation while recovering the modified signal correctly.
Claims13
A method for detecting ions in an ion trap, comprising:
- a. Providing ionized ions to the ion trap;
- b. Creating an RF storage field by applying a RF storage signal to a first electrode of the ion trap, wherein the storage voltage VRF and/or the storage frequency ΩRF of the RF storage signal is modified
- c. Applying an excitation signal to the ions in the ion trap;
- d. Detecting an image current signal induced to a second electrode, a third electrode or differentially between the second and third electrodes by oscillation of the ions excited by the excitation signal;
- and
- e. Applying an FFT to the detected image current signal to detect the ion oscillation.
An ion trap for trapping and detecting ions, comprising:
- a first electrode, a second electrode and a third electrode defining a trapping volume;
- a RF storage signal supply connected to the first electrode and configured to generate an RF storage field wherein the storage voltage VRF and/or the storage frequency ΩRF of the RF storage signal is modified;
- a RF excitation signal supply is connected to the first electrode and configured to generate an excitation signal;
- and
- a detector connected to the second electrode and/or the third electrode and configured to detect an image current induced by oscillation of the ions excited by the excitation signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.