Apparatus for elemental analysis of particles by mass spectrometry

A mass spectrometer for elemental analysis of particles, the mass spectrometer comprising:

• a particle introduction system;
• a vaporizer, atomizer, and ionizer positioned downstream of the particle introduction system, the vaporizer, atomizer, and ionizer being configured to produce ions from elements associated with the particle;
• and
• an ion mass-to-charge ratio analyzer positioned downstream of the vaporizer, atomizer and ionizer and being configured to separate ions according to their mass-to-charge ratio, the analyzer comprising:
• a detector positioned to detect at least some of the ions after the ions have been separated on the basis of mass-charge ratio;
• and
• a digital processor configured to (a) acquire data from the detector during at least one sampling cycle, the data including at least first data in a primary detection group defined to comprise one or more mass-to-charge ratio channels of the mass spectrometer;
• (b) determine whether or not ions detected during the at least one sampling cycle meet at least one selection criterion indicating a presence of a particle in the mass spectrometer using a function defined to have as arguments the data collected in the primary detection group during the at least one sampling cycle;
• and (c) determine whether or not to use data in a secondary detection group collected during the at least one sampling cycle of the mass spectrometer to analyze a particle based on whether or not the value of the function satisfies the at least one selection criterion, wherein the secondary detection group is defined to comprise one or more mass-to-charge ratio channels different from the one or more mass-to-charge ratio channels in the primary detection group.