An orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight mass spectrometer (1) includes: an ion ejector (123) which ejects measurement-target ions in a predetermined direction; an orthogonal accelerator (132) which accelerates ions in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the ions are ejected; a ring electrode (131) located between the ion ejector and the orthogonal accelerator, the ring electrode having an opening for allowing ions to pass through and arranged so that the central axis (C2) of the opening is shifted from the central axis (C1) of the ion ejector in a direction along the axis of the acceleration of the ions by the orthogonal accelerator; a reflectron electrode (134) which creates a repelling electric field for reversing the direction of the ions accelerated by the orthogonal accelerator; and an ion detector (135) which detects ions after the direction of flight of the ions is reversed by the reflectron electrode.

A mass spectrometer is disclosed comprising an ion optics device housing having one or more external electrical connectors (1719) provided thereon. An ion optics device (301) is arranged inside the ion optics device housing, the ion optics device (301) comprising one or more electrodes for manipulating ions, the one or more electrodes being electrically connected to the one or more external electrical connectors (1719) provided on the ion optics device housing. A voltage supply housing (1717) is provided having one or more external electrical connectors provided thereon. One or more voltage supplies are arranged inside the voltage supply housing (1717), the one or more voltage supplies being in electrical communication with the one or more external electrical connectors provided on the voltage supply housing. The one or more external electrical connectors provided on the voltage supply housing are directly physically and electrically connected to the one or more external electrical connectors (1719) provided on the ion optics device housing.

A voltage supply for a mass analyser is provided. The voltage supply comprises a voltage source, a first voltage output, a second voltage output, and a voltage divider network. The first voltage output is configured to provide a first voltage to a first electrode of the mass analyser, wherein the first electrode of the mass analyser has a first mass shift per volt perturbation. The second voltage output is configured to provide a second voltage to a second electrode of the mass analyser, wherein the second electrode of the mass analyser has a second mass shift per volt perturbation. The second mass shift per volt perturbation opposes the first mass shift per volt perturbation. The voltage divider network comprises a first resistor and a second resistor. The first resistor is configured to define the first voltage, the first resistor having a first temperature coefficient. The second resistor is configured to define the second voltage, the second resistor having a second temperature coefficient. The second temperature coefficient is selected based on the first and second mass shift per volt perturbations and the first temperature coefficient such that a first mass shift associated with the first electrode is compensated by a second mass shift associated with the second electrode.

A multi-pass time-of-flight mass spectrometer is disclosed having an elongated orthogonal accelerator (30). The orthogonal accelerator (30) has electrodes (31) that are transparent to the ions so that ions that are reflected or turned back towards it are able to pass through the orthogonal accelerator (30). The electrodes (31) of the orthogonal accelerator (30) may be pulsed from ground potential in order to avoid the reflected or turned ion packets being defocused. The spectrometer has a high duty cycle and/or space charge capacity of pulsed conversion.

Provided is a time-of-flight mass spectrometer including: a loop-orbit defining electrode (21) including an outer electrode (211) and inner electrode (212) located on the outside and inside of a loop orbit, respectively; an ion inlet (22); an ion outlet (23) provided in either the outer or inner electrode; a loop-flight voltage applier (28) configured to apply loop-flight voltages to the outer and inner electrodes, respectively; a set of deflecting electrodes (24) facing each other across a section of an n-th loop orbit, where n is a predetermined number, the deflecting electrodes including a first portion (241) which faces the n-th loop orbit and a second portion (242) which includes other portions; and a voltage applier (29) configured to apply deflecting voltages to the first portion so as to reverse the drifting direction of the ions flying in the n-th loop orbit, and a voltage to the second portion so as to create the loop-flight electric field.

The invention provides (a) a time-of-flight mass spectrometer with an acceleration region, a single-stage or multi-stage reflector, and an ion detector, further comprising an additional reflector whose potential has, at least in a subregion, a two-dimensional logarithmic potential component and a two-dimensional octopole potential component, and (b) methods for operating the time-of-flight mass spectrometer.

A mass spectrometer comprising: a vacuum chamber; and an ion inlet assembly for transmitting analyte ions into the vacuum chamber; wherein the spectrometer is configured to operate in a cooling mode in which it selectively controls one or more gas flow to the ion inlet assembly for actively cooling the ion inlet assembly.

An ion reflector has a configuration in which multiple plate electrodes having a rectangular opening are arranged. The components are arranged so that a central axial line extending in the longitudinal direction of the opening lies on a plane which contains a straight line (Y-axis) connecting the centroidal position of an ion distribution in an ion trap and a central position on the detection surface of a detector, and a central axial line (X-axis) of an ion-ejecting direction. If the potential distribution along the central axis of the ion reflector is modified so that a portion of the reflecting field becomes a non-uniform electric field intended for improving isochronism for a group of ions to be detected, an area having an ideal potential distribution for realizing the isochronism is spread in the Y-axis direction.

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 γ 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. γ=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 α.sub.2, and what is most important, compensating for mechanical misalignments of the optical components.

A flight tube 246 is hollow, and ions emitted from an ion emission unit are introduced into the flight tube 246. A reflectron 244 is provided in the flight tube 246, and is configured by coaxially arranging a plurality of annular electrodes 244A and 244B. A vacuum vessel 247A that becomes in a vacuum state during analysis is formed in the vacuum chamber 247, and the flight tube 246 is provided in the vacuum vessel 247A. A temperature control mechanism 248 controls a temperature of the flight tube 246. An ambient temperature sensor 250 detects an ambient temperature outside the vacuum chamber 247. A target temperature of the temperature control mechanism 248 is set on the basis of the ambient temperature detected by the ambient temperature sensor 250.