Methods and devices for pretreatment of a conducting sampling substrate which enable an electrostatic charge to be used to transfer analyte molecules onto a sampling substrate, where the analyte molecules are in powder or particulate form. In an embodiment of the present invention, the electrostatic charge can be used to transfer powder samples containing nitrogenous bases, nucleosides, food additives, and prescription drugs such as acetaminophen, oxycodone, and dextromethorphan. In an embodiment of the present invention, a powder sample is transferred to a pre-treated sampling substrate using an electrostatic charge. The spatial distribution of the powder on the original surface is retained on the pre-treated sampling substrate using the electrostatic charge transfer. The electrostatic charge transfer can be used to transfer powder samples present on a surface or in the chambers of 96, 384 and 1536 well plate formats to either pins or mesh and analyzed with ambient desorption ionization.

A sample collection system for an extraterrestrial vehicle and method of operating is provided. The system includes an inlet conduit configured to receive a gas stream. A chamber having an inlet is fluidly coupled to the inlet conduit, the inlet and chamber configured to induce cyclonic flow. A container is removably disposed within the chamber, the container having a first opening fluidly coupled to the inlet and an outlet. An exhaust conduit is fluidly coupled to the outlet. A filter is disposed between the exhaust conduit and the chamber.

An ion molecule reactor for generating analyte ions from analytes comprises: a) a reaction volume in which reagent ions can interact with the analytes in order to form analyte ions; b) at least one analyte inlet for introducing the analytes along an inlet path into the reaction volume whereby, preferably, the inlet path runs essentially along at least a first section of the predefined transit path in the reaction volume; c) at least one reagent ion source and/or at least one reagent ion inlet for providing reagent ions into the reaction volume; d) optionally, at least one ion guide comprising an electrode arrangement which is configured for producing an alternating electrical, magnetic and/or electromagnetic field, that allows for guiding the reagent ions and/or the analyte ions at least along a section of the predefined transit path, preferably along the whole transit path, through the reaction volume. There is also provided a sampler comprising one or more chambers, wherein each chamber is configured for receiving an individual sample and comprises an inlet and an outlet, such that a gaseous fluid flow can pass through each of the chambers.

A method is disclosed comprising providing a biological sample on a swab, directing a spray of charged droplets onto a surface of the swab in order to generate a plurality of analyte ions, and analysing the analyte ions.

A laser ablation cell (1) comprises a flow channel (11) having an essentially constant cross-sectional area so as to ensure a strictly laminar flow in the flow channel. A sample chamber (21) is provided adjacent to a lateral opening (14) of the flow channel. A laser beam (41) enters the sample chamber (21) through a lateral window (16) and impinges on a surface (24) of a sample (23) to ablate material from the sample. The sample may be positioned in such a distance from the flow channel that the laser-generated aerosol mass distribution has its center within the flow channel. This leads to short aerosol washout times. The laser ablation cell is particularly well suited for aerosol generation in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS), including imaging applications.

An apparatus is disclosed comprising a first device for generating aerosol, smoke or vapour from one or more regions of a target, an inlet conduit to an ion analyser or mass spectrometer, the inlet conduit having an inlet through which the aerosol, smoke or vapour passes, and a Venturi pump arrangement arranged and adapted to direct the aerosol, smoke or vapour towards the inlet.

There is provided a glow discharge mass spectroscope having a higher analytical sensitivity by increasing an amount of extracted ion beams without a significant change in device construction and drive conditions of conventional glow discharge systems. When glow discharge is generated in a discharge region 27, an amount of ion beams extracted by a magnetic field formed by a first magnet 15 and a second magnet 26 is increased by disposing the circular and flat plate-shaped first magnet 15 between a flat plate-shaped solid sample 30 and a plunger 16 for holding the solid sample 30, disposing the ring-shaped second magnet 26 disposed coaxially with the first magnet 15 so as to surround a discharge region 27 at an ion extraction port side of a cell body 21 that forms the discharge region 27, and disposing the first magnet 15 and the second magnet 26 so that magnetization directions are parallel to each other in a direction toward the ion extraction port from the opening and magnetic poles are opposite to each other.

On field ionization under ambient conditions is described and applied on both ionization and desorption of various chemicals and biochemical present on the surface of materials in solid, liquid or gas states. The Atmospheric Pressure Megavolt Electrostatic Field Ionization Desorption (APME-FID) method generates ions directly from the surface of samples connected to a high electrical voltage at megavolt conditions. Megavolt electrostatic potential is generated and gradually accumulated directly on the sample surface by a Van de Graaff generator without causing damage to the sample. Therefore, when coupled with mass spectrometric system, the APME-FID-MS method enables direct detection of analytes on the surface of samples in different sizes and diverse types.

There is provided a glow discharge mass spectroscope having a higher analytical sensitivity by increasing an amount of extracted ion beams without a significant change in device construction and drive conditions of conventional glow discharge systems. An extraction plate 25 that is disposed at an ion extraction port of a discharge cell 20 and functions as an extraction electrode includes a first plate 26 that has a projection 26a projected toward a discharge region 27 in an opening 25a and that is disposed on the discharge region 27 side, and a second plate 28 that is connected to the first plate 26 in an outer circumferential edge and that is disposed with a gap provided between the first plate 26 and the second plate 28.

There is provided a glow discharge mass spectroscope having a higher analytical sensitivity by increasing an amount of extracted ion beams without a significant change in device construction and drive conditions of conventional glow discharge systems. When glow discharge is generated in a discharge region 27, an amount of ion beams extracted by a magnetic field formed by a first magnet 15 and a second magnet 26 is increased by disposing the circular and flat plate-shaped first magnet 15 between a flat plate-shaped solid sample 30 and a plunger 16 for holding the solid sample 30, disposing the ring-shaped second magnet 26 disposed coaxially with the first magnet 15 so as to surround a discharge region 27 at an ion extraction port side of a cell body 21 that forms the discharge region 27, and disposing the first magnet 15 and the second magnet 26 so that magnetization directions are parallel to each other in a direction toward the ion extraction port from the opening and magnetic poles are opposite to each other.