The invention relates to a mass spectrometer, comprising an ion guide having a plurality of electrodes that are supplied with a radio frequency voltage to facilitate radial confinement of ions in an internal volume defined by inward facing surfaces of the electrodes, the internal volume including a first section having a variable radial diameter along a longitudinal axis of the ion guide, in which the electrodes are helically wound, and an adjacent second section having a substantially constant radial diameter along the longitudinal axis, wherein the electrodes extend from the first section to the second section continuously. The continuous nature of the ion guide electrodes facilitates in particular unhindered axial propagation of ions through the assembly and prevents ion losses during their transmission through different compartments of the mass spectrometer.

A method that includes introducing at least one analyte into a gas plasma; generating neutral species from atoms of the analyte in the gas plasma; preferentially transporting the neutral species downstream of the gas plasma relative to any ions produced in the gas plasma; and reacting the neutral species of the analyte with at least one reagent ion downstream of the plasma resulting in ion species of the analyte, wherein the at least one reagent ion is supplied by an independent ion source.

The present invention addresses ways to facilitate the detection and analysis of ion abundance, in particular for analysis of elemental ions, and in particular embodiments for isotope ratio analysis, by use of collision cells that employ an axial drag field, i.e. an axial electric field that exerts a drag force on ions within the cell. By means of the invention, the drag field allows an increase in the transmission in the case of Li from a few % up to almost 100%. The drag field is generated by electric fields and can be switched on and off within microsecond (μs) timescales and thus improves the sensitivity for the lighter elements dramatically. The invention allows use of collision cells for analysis of elemental ions in a simple and fast workflow with high throughput and without compromising transmission.

An analysis method includes: performing liquid chromatography using a mobile phase including an adsorption prevention agent for preventing adsorption of a sample including a compound having a phosphate group to metal; and performing mass spectrometry on an eluate of the liquid chromatography. The adsorption prevention agent includes an oxalic acid or a salt of the oxalic acid.

An ion guide includes electrodes elongated along an axis from an entrance end to an exit end and spaced around the axis to surround an interior. The electrodes have polygonal shapes with inside surfaces disposed at a radius from the axis and having an electrode width tangential to a circle inscribed by the electrodes. An aspect ratio of the electrode width to the radius varies along the axis. The electrodes are configured to generate a two-dimensional RF electrical field in the interior having a multipole composition comprising one or more lower-order multipole components and one or more higher-order multipole components and varying along the axis in accordance with the varying aspect ratio, and having an RF voltage amplitude that varies along the axis.

An ion guide includes electrodes elongated along an axis from an entrance end to an exit end and spaced around the axis to surround an interior. The electrodes have polygonal shapes with inside surfaces disposed at a radius from the axis and having an electrode width tangential to a circle inscribed by the electrodes. An aspect ratio of the electrode width to the radius varies along the axis. The electrodes are configured to generate a two-dimensional RF electrical field in the interior having a multipole composition comprising one or more lower-order multipole components and one or more higher-order multipole components and varying along the axis in accordance with the varying aspect ratio, and having an RF voltage amplitude that varies along the axis.

A mass spectrometer collision cell system, comprising: a gas containment vessel comprising an internal chamber having ion inlet and ion outlet ends and a cross-sectional area, A.sub.chamber; a gas inlet aperture; first and second gas outlet apertures that are disposed at or proximal to the ion inlet and outlet ends, respectively, and that have respective outlet aperture cross-sectional areas, A.sub.aperture1 and A.sub.aperture2, and an average outlet aperture cross-sectional area, A.sub.aperture.sup.ave; a longitudinal axis of the chamber extending from the ion inlet end to the ion outlet end and having a length, L.sub.chamber; and a set of multipole rod electrodes, at least a portion of each multipole rod electrode being within the chamber, wherein the values of A.sub.chamber, L.sub.chamber and A.sub.aperture.sup.ave are such that the combined gas conductance of the chamber and the gas outlet apertures is not greater than 95 percent of the gas conductance of the gas outlet apertures alone.

An ion analyzer includes: a reaction chamber 2 into which precursor ions derived from a sample component are introduced; a radical generation unit including an insulating tube 551, and a discharge unit 54, 552 configured to generate a discharge inside the insulating tube; a gas supply unit 52, 53 capable of supplying a first gas which is a radical raw material gas, and a second gas which is any of an oxygen gas, an ozone gas, a nitrogen gas, a gas of a compound containing an oxygen atom or a nitrogen atom, and a rare gas to an inside of the insulating tube; an evacuation unit 57 configured to evacuate the inside of the insulating tube; a radical introduction unit 55 configured to introduce radicals into an inside of the reaction chamber; and a control unit 93 configured to perform a first operation of introducing the first gas into the inside of the insulating tube, generating radicals by generating a discharge, and introducing the radicals into the inside of the reaction chamber, and a second operation of introducing the second gas into the inside of the insulating tube.

An apparatus (100, 300, 700) is described, comprising: a linear ion trap (102) comprising two pairs of pole electrodes and a radiofrequency, RF, electrical potential supply (117) configured to apply respective RF waveforms to the pairs of pole electrodes, thereby forming a RF trapping field component to trap analyte ions (116) radially in a trapping region (115) of the linear ion trap for processing of the analyte ions (116) therein; a charged particle source (101) comprising a pulse valve (103), a conduit (106, 107), having an entrance in fluid communication therewith and an exit, wherein the conduit (106, 107) extends in the direction of the trapping region (115), and a discharge device (108) electrically coupled to an electrical potential supply (109) and disposed between the entrance and the exit of the conduit (106, 107), wherein the pulse valve (103) is configured to release a gas pulse from a gas supply into the entrance of the conduit (106, 107) and wherein the electrical potential supply (109) is configured to apply a high voltage to the discharge device (108) to generate a discharge (110) in the gas pulse in the conduit (106, 107), thereby generating charged particles (114) from the gas and accelerating the generated charged particles in the direction of the trapping region (115). A method is also described.

A connector for use in vacuum system is configured to fluidly connect a first opening formed in a first vacuum chamber to a second opening formed in a second vacuum chamber, the first opening of the first vacuum chamber being provided within the second vacuum chamber. The connector comprises a tube and a biasing O-ring. The tube has an outer wall to define a fluid flow path between first and second ends of the tube. Towards the first end, a sealing portion of the outer wall of the tube is provided. Towards the second end, an O-ring retaining point is provided along the tube spaced apart from the second end of the tube. The biasing O-ring is provided around and tensioned by the outer wall of the tube. The biasing O-ring is moveable along the axial direction between the O-ring retaining point and a sealing position where it seals the connector.