A method is disclosed comprising obtaining or acquiring image or other data from one or more regions of a target using an imaging sensor. The image or other data may then be used to determine one or more regions of interest of the target. An ambient ionisation ion source may then be used to generate aerosol, smoke or vapour from one or more regions of the target.

Disclosed herein is an apparatus for supplying reagent ions, for example ETD or PTR reagent ions, to a mass spectrometer. The apparatus includes a reagent material reservoir, coupled to a carrier gas supply, which delivers an entrained reagent vapor flow to an inlet of a mixing junction through a first flow restrictor. A control gas flow of carrier gas is delivered to another inlet of the mixing junction via a variable pressure regulator and a second flow restrictor. The outlet of the mixing junction is coupled via a third flow restrictor and a reagent transfer junction to an inlet of an ionizer, such as a glow-discharge ionizer. By dynamic adjustment of the output pressure of the variable pressure regulator, the flow rate of reagent vapor may be controlled over a broad range, even for reagent materials of relatively high volatility.

An interface for receiving ions in a carrier gas from an atmospheric pressure ion source at a spectrometer that is configured to analyse the received ions at a lower pressure includes an interface vacuum chamber having a downstream aperture; a support assembly defining an axial bore arranged to allow a removable capillary tube to extend therethrough; ions being received from the atmospheric pressure ion source through the capillary tube and directed towards the downstream aperture; and a jet disruptor, positioned downstream from the axial bore and configured to disrupt gas flow between the axial bore and the downstream aperture only when the capillary tube is not fully inserted through the axial bore.

The present invention provides an analysis method for determining halogens in geological samples by ICP-MS. The method includes following steps: weighing a geological sample and ammonium bifluoride in a sample dissolving tank, tightening the sample dissolving tank, and shaking; then heating the sample dissolving tank in a drying oven, and setting a temperature of the drying oven as 200-220° C. and heating time as 1-2 hours; cooling the sample dissolving tank to room temperature so as to obtain a solid mixture after heating is ended, adding ammonium hydroxide into the solid mixture, centrifuging, removing a precipitate, and collecting the supernatant; adding an internal standard solution into the supernatant, and uniformly mixing; and optimizing the ICP-MS to an optimal state, testing content of chlorine in the supernatant under a condition of medium resolution m/Δm=4000, and testing content of bromine and iodine in the supernatant under a condition of low resolution m/Δm=300.

A method and system for injecting a sample into a receiving LC/MS/MS system that is configured to determine a concentration of GenX within the sample, wherein the LC/MS/MS includes ESI. The sample is subjected to one or more of the following ESI conditions: i) a probe gas temperature of approximately 120° C. to approximately 160° C.; ii) a sheath gas heater setting of approximately 150° C. to approximately 275° C.; and iii) a sheath gas flow of approximately 6 L/min to approximately 11 L/min. The concentration of GenX within the sample may have a minimum reporting level of approximately 0.010 μg/L.

A connection pipe penetrates a partition wall, and communicatively connects an ionization chamber to a vacuum chamber. A heating block is arranged in the ionization chamber, and heats the connection pipe by surrounding an outer periphery of the connection pipe. The connection pipe is inserted into a flange member, and the flange member abuts on an end surface of the heating block. The flange member includes a base portion and a projection portion. The base portion abuts on the end surface of the heating block, and is arranged in the ionization chamber. The projection portion projects from the base portion.

An apparatus for mass spectrometry and/or ion mobility spectrometry is disclosed comprising a first device arranged and adapted to generate aerosol, smoke or vapour from a target and one or more second devices arranged and adapted to aspirate aerosol, smoke, vapour and/or liquid to or towards an analyser. A liquid trap or separator is provided to capture and/or discard liquid aspirated by the one or more second devices.

The invention relates to the generation of desolvated ions by electrospraying to be investigated analytically, e.g. according to the charge-related mass m/z and/or ion mobility. The cloud of highly charged droplets drawn from the spray capillary by a high voltage is usually focused and stabilized by a beam of nebulizing gas surrounding the cloud of tiny droplets. For a fast drying of the droplets, an additional desolvation gas is usually heated to a temperature of up to several hundred degrees centigrade and blown into the cloud of droplets. The invention particularly relates to the heating of the gas which is instrumental in the generation of desolvated ions as part of the electrospraying process without any mechanical or electrical contact between the heating power supply and the heater itself, but rather by heating the heater for the gas using electromagnetic induction.

An apparatus for mass spectrometry and/or ion mobility spectrometry is disclosed comprising a first device arranged and adapted to generate aerosol, smoke or vapor from a target and one or more second devices arranged and adapted to aspirate aerosol, smoke, vapor and/or liquid to or towards an analyzer. A liquid trap or separator is provided to capture and/or discard liquid aspirated by the one or more second devices.

Systems and methods are described for heating sample transfer lines between a source of a sample and a detection system to detect analytes of interest in the sample, where the sample is maintained in a heated state to maintain dissolved analytes of interest in solution.