High mass resolution with a new variable anharmonicity Penning trap

Abstract

A modified Penning trap has been developed and shown to yield 100 times narrower axial resonance linewidths on electrons than that of a previous unmodified Penning trap. An extra pair of electrodes is inserted in the standard trap configuration, which effectively nulls the quartic term in the trapping potential. With existing signal-to-noise limitations, an axial frequency resolution of 0.02 ppm can be obtained. This device is particularly attractive to high-resolution mass spectrometry.