Tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-TOF) with a quadratic-field ion mirror

Abstract

A tandem time-of-flight (TOF-TOF) mass spectrometer comprised of two ion mirrors is described. The first ion mirror, which is a linear-field, single-stage mirror (MS1) with an intermediate collision cell, has been designed to provide the temporal focus necessary for the second, quadratic-field ion mirror (MS2) to function effectively. Due to the wide energy-range focusing capabilities of the quadratic field employed in the second ion mirror all the fragment ions can be collected in one spectrum without the need to step the reflecting working voltage of the MS2. The size of the active area of the microchannel plate detector used in the preliminary experiments was the limiting factor governing the collection efficiently of fragment ions. The use of the first ion mirror to provide temporal focusing of the precursor ion packet at the first focal point of the quadratic mirror used as the MS2 requires no alteration of the focusing conditions for different masses, in contrast to delayed extraction or postsource pulsed focusing. Precursor ions formed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization were mass-selected with an ion gate located before the collision cell and the fragment ions were mass analyzed using the quadratic-field ion mirror. Experimental results demonstrating effective high-energy collision-induced dissociation of polymer and fullerene molecule-ions are presented.