Multireflection Planar Time-of-Flight Mass Analyzer. II: The High-Resolution Mode

Abstract

The feasibility of the high-resolution operating mode in a planar multireflection time-of-flight analyzer that is suggested in Part I of this work is demonstrated. Time-of-flight aberrations, which limit the resolution, are estimated. A resolution as high as 200 000 at a time of flight of 70 ms is achieved in experiments. It is shown that the maximal resolution is limited by the duration of the ion packet generated by the source. The resolution can be improved by closing the ion beam trajectory with the formation of repeating cycles. The number of the cycles depends on the beam intensity losses due to scattering by the residual gas. It seem likely that the resolution can be improved further by using a higher vacuum, refining the ion source, and applying more stable power supplies.