Confining positive and negative ions with fast oscillating electric potentials
AssigneeThermo Finnigan LLC
InventorJohn E. P. Syka
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for trapping or guiding ions. Ions are introduced into an ion trap or ion guide. The ion trap or ion guide includes a first set of electrodes and a second set of electrodes. The first set of electrodes defines a first portion of an ion channel to trap or guide the introduced ions. Periodic voltages are applied to electrodes in the first set of electrodes to generate a first oscillating electric potential that radially confines the ions in the ion channel, and periodic voltages are applied to electrodes in the second set of electrodes to generate a second oscillating electric potential that axially confines the ions in the ion channel.
Claims25
A method of trapping ions, comprising:
- introducing ions into a multipole ion trap, the multipole ion trap including a first set of electrodes and a second set of electrodes, the first set of electrodes including a plurality of rod electrodes defining a first portion of an ion channel;
- applying periodic voltages to electrodes in the first set of electrodes to generate a first oscillating electric potential that radially confines the ions in the ion channel;
- and
- applying periodic voltages to electrodes in the second set of electrodes to generate a second oscillating electric potential that axially confines the ions in the ion channel.
A multipole ion trap apparatus, comprising:
- a first set and a second set of electrodes, the first set of electrodes including a plurality of rod electrodes arranged to define a first portion of an ion channel to trap ions;
- and
- a controller configured to apply periodic voltages to electrodes in the first set and the second set to establish a first oscillating electric potential and a second oscillating electric potential, wherein the first and second oscillating electric potentials have different spatial distributions and confine ions in the ion channel in radial and axial directions, respectively.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.