A mass analyser for use in a mass spectrometer, the mass analyser having: a set of sector electrodes spatially arranged to provide an electrostatic field in a 2D reference plane suitable for guiding ions along an orbit in the 2D reference plane, wherein the set of sector electrodes extend along a drift path that is locally orthogonal to the reference plane so that, in use, the set of sector electrodes provide a 3D electrostatic field region; and an injection interface configured to inject ions into the mass analyser via an injection opening such that the ions injected into the mass analyser are guided by the 3D electrostatic field region along a 3D reference trajectory according to which ions perform multiple turns within the mass analyser whilst drifting along the drift path, wherein each turn corresponds to a completed orbit in the 2D reference plane. The injection interface includes at least one injection deflector located within the mass analyser, the at least one injection deflector being configured to deflect ions injected into the mass analyser in the direction of the drift path, wherein the injection interface is preferably configured so that ions guided along the 3D reference trajectory are, after injection into the mass analyser, kept adequately distant from the injection opening such that they are substantially unaffected by electric field distortions around the injection opening.

The driver condition detection system includes a driver monitor camera capturing a face of a driver of a vehicle and generating a facial image of the driver, and a driver condition detection part configured to detect a condition of the driver based on the facial image. If a part of face parts of the driver is hidden in the facial image, the driver condition detection part is configured to detect a condition of the driver based on face parts of the driver not hidden in the facial image. The face parts of the driver are a mouth, nose, right eye, and left eye of the driver.

Improved pulsed ion sources and pulsed converters are proposed for multi-pass time-of-flight mass spectrometer, either multi-reflecting (MR) or multi-turn (MT) TOF. A wedge electrostatic field (45) is arranged within a region of small ion energy for electronically controlled tilting of ion packets (54) time front. Tilt angle of time front (54) is strongly amplified by a post-acceleration in a flat field (48). Electrostatic deflector (30) downstream of the post-acceleration (48) allows denser folding of ion trajectories, whereas the injection mechanism allows for electronically adjustable mutual compensation of the time front tilt angle, i.e. =0 for ion packet in location (55), for curvature of ion packets, and for the angular energy dispersion. The arrangement helps bypassing accelerator (40) rims, adjusting ion packets inclination angles .sub.2 and what is most important, compensating for mechanical misalignments of the optical components.

An improved multi-pass time-of-flight or electrostatic trap mass spectrometer (70) with an orthogonal accelerator, applicable to mirror based multi-reflecting (MR) or multi-turn (MT) analyzers. The orthogonal accelerator (64) is tilted and after first ion reflection or turn the ion packets are back deflected with a compensated deflector (40) by the same angle to compensate for the time-front steering and for the chromatic angular spreads. The focal distance of deflector (40) is control by Matsuda plates or other means for producing quadrupolar field in the deflector. Interference with the detector rim is improved with dual deflector (68). The proposed improvements allow substantial extension of flight path and number of ion turns or reflections. The problems of analyzer angular misalignments by tilting of ion mirror (71) is compensated by electrical adjustments of ion beam (63) energy and deflection angles in deflectors (40) and (68).

Improved multi-pass time-of-flight mass spectrometers MPTOF, either multi-reflecting (MR) or multi-turn (MT) TOF are proposed with elongated pulsed converterseither orthogonal accelerator or radially ejecting ion trap. The converter (35) is displaced from the MPTOF s-surface of isochronous ion motion in the orthogonal Y-direction. Long ion packets (38) are pulsed deflected in the transverse Y-direction and brought onto said isochronous trajectory s-surface, this way bypassing said converter. Ion packets are isochronously focused in the drift Z-direction within or immediately after the accelerator, either by isochronous trans-axial lens/wedge (68) or Fresnel lens. The accelerator is improved by the ion beam confinement within an RF quadrupolar field or within spatially alternated DC quadrupolar field. The accelerator improves the duty cycle and/or space charge capacity of MPTOF by an order of magnitude.

A mass spectrometer comprising: a pulsed ion source for generating pulses of ions having a range of masses; a time-of-flight mass analyzer for receiving and mass analyzing the pulses of ions from the ion source; and an energy controlling electrode assembly located between the pulsed ion source and the time-of-flight mass analyzer configured to receive the pulses of ions from the pulsed ion source and apply a time-dependent potential to the ions thereby to control the energy of the ions depending on their m/z before they reach the time-of-flight mass analyzer. Mass dependent differences in average energy of ions can be reduced for injection into a time-of-flight mass analyzer, which can improve ion transmission and/or instrument resolving power.

A detector system for targeted analysis and/or sample collection by distance-of-flight mass spectrometry (tDOF-MS).

MALDI-TOF MS systems have solid state lasers and successive and varied delay times between ionization and acceleration (e.g. extraction) to change focus masses during a single sample signal acquisition without requiring tuning of the MS by a user. The (successive) different delay times can change by 1 ns to about 500 ns, and can be in a range that is between 1-2500 nanoseconds.

The invention relates to time-of-flight mass spectrometers with pulsed ionization of samples, for example by matrix-assisted laser desorption (MALDI), where the samples are located on a sample support and are irradiated and ionized one after the other in a grid by a position-controlled desorption beam. An ion-optical puller lens arrangement is positioned in front of the sample support, with at least one of the lens diaphragms in the arrangement being subdivided into segments, and a voltage supply being able to supply the segments, or some of them, with different voltages, depending on the impact position of the desorption beam on the support plate. It is then possible to virtually shift the effective ion-optical focusing center of the lens away from the axis, and to focus an ion beam, which is generated off the real lens axis, into a beam which runs essentially parallel to the real lens axis, with no time phase shift for ions of the same mass. This beam can be brought back onto the axis by an x/y deflection unit, for example for operating the time-of-flight mass spectrometer with a reflector.

The present invention provides a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS) taken measures for preventing a deterioration in accuracy caused at the time of transportation to an installation site. A time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS) for performing mass separation based on the time of flight of an ion flying in a flight space includes an ion transportation unit (12, 14, 15) configured to transport an ion, an acceleration unit (expulsion electrode (161) and the like) configured to receive the ion transported by the ion transportation unit and accelerate the ion to introduce the ion into the flight space, a flight unit incorporating the flight space, a first vacuum vessel (18A) enclosing the ion transportation unit, the acceleration unit, and at least a part of the flight unit, a chassis (19) on which the first vacuum vessel (18A) is placed, and a reflector unit (20) to which a reflector (reflection (164)) and a second vacuum vessel (28) are fixed, the reflection (164) being configured to reverse the flight trajectory of the ion accelerated by the acceleration unit and introduced into the flight space, and the second vacuum vessel (28) being attachable to an end of the first vacuum vessel (18A) and enclosing the reflector. Since the reflector unit (20) is separated from other parts during transportation, the other parts are easily moved by, for example, casters (191) disposed on the chassis (19), and the reflector unit (20) is moved without being affected by the vibrations caused by the movement on the casters (191).