An ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer with high mass resolution for cold trapped ion experiments
Abstract
Trapping molecular ions that have been sympathetically cooled with laser-cooled atomic ions is a useful platform for exploring cold ion chemistry. We designed and characterized a new experimental apparatus for probing chemical reaction dynamics between molecular cations and neutral radicals at temperatures below 1 K. The ions are trapped in a linear quadrupole radio-frequency trap and sympathetically cooled by co-trapped, laser-cooled, atomic ions. The ion trap is coupled to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer to readily identify product ion species and to accurately determine trapped ion numbers. We discuss, and present in detail, the design of this ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer and the electronics required for driving the trap and mass spectrometer. Furthermore, we measure the performance of this system, which yields mass resolutions of m/Δm ≥ 1100 over a wide mass range, and discuss its relevance for future measurements in chemical reaction kinetics and dynamics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2017
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.4996911
Entities
People
- H. J. Lewandowski
- James Greenberg
- K. Loeffler
- M. I. Miller
- Philipp Schmid
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- National Institute of Standards and Technology
- National Science Foundation
- University of Colorado