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US 5,331,158 AGranted
Method and arrangement for time of flight spectrometry
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Company
InventorJerry T. Dowell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The apparatus and method of the present invention multiplexes or gates particle beams to provide continuous data collection useful in time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The multiple particle beams are gated or combined to achieve an overall 100% duty cycle. This allows continuous data collection, thereby realizing the full advantages of abundance sensitivity and mass resolution in time-of-flight mass spectrometry.
Claims14
A time-of-flight arrangement comprising:
- excitation means for establishing a first and a second ionizing particle beam, each ionizing particle beam having an on and an off state, wherein the second ionizing particle beam is switched to the on state when the first ionizing particle beam is in the off state and the first ionizing particle beam is switched to the on state when the second ionizing particle beam is in the off state;
- encoding means adjacent said excitation means, said encoding means for establishing timing signatures within the first and second ionizing particle beams;
- an ionization chamber for holding a sample, positioned adjacent said encoding means, receiving the first and second ionizing particle beams containing the timing signatures, whereby the first and second ionizing particle beams ionize the sample to produce a directed plurality of encoded ion streams;
- a drift region receiving the directed plurality of encoded ion streams, the drift region adjacent the ionization means;
- and
- a plurality of detectors respectively associated with at least a pair of encoded ion streams, adjacent the drift region such that each of said plurality of detectors detects a corresponding one of said plurality of encoded ion streams.
3 more elements
A method for data collection using time-of-flight spectrometry comprising:
- sequentially gating a first and a second ionizing particle beam such that each ionizing particle beam has an on and an off state, wherein the second ionizing particle beam is switched to the on state when the first ionizing particle beam is in the off state and the first ionizing particle beam is switched to the on state when the second ionizing particle beam is in the off state;
- encoding the first and the second ionizing particle beams by establishing timing signatures within the ionizing particle beams;
- ionizing a sample by the first and second encoded ionizing particle beams to produce a directed plurality of encoded ion streams;
- drifting by the directed plurality of encoded ion streams;
- and
- individually detecting each of said directed plurality of encoded ion streams.
3 more elements
A method of data collection in time-of-flight spectrometry comprising:
- sequentially gating a first and a second ionizing particle beam such that each ionizing particle beam has an on and an off state, wherein the second ionizing particle beam is switched to the on state when the first ionizing particle beam is in the off state and the first ionizing particle beam is switched to the on state when the second ionizing particle beam is in the off state;
- encoding the first and the second ionizing particle beams by establishing timing signatures within the ionizing particle beams;
- ionizing a sample by the first and second encoded ionizing particle beams to produce a directed plurality of encoded ion streams;
- eliminating unwanted species said plurality of encoded ion streams;
- drifting by the directed plurality of ion streams;
- individually detecting the plurality of encoded ion streams;
- producing indications representative of the masses and quantities of ions in the plurality of encoded ion streams;
- and
- evaluating said indications to determine the masses and quantities of ions in detected ion streams.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.