Pulsed Oscillating Mass Spectrometer: A Miniaturized Type of Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer

We report the development, characterization, and performance of a new type of time-of-flight mass analyzer that employs an oscillatory ion flight path and uses secondary electrons to record the mass spectrum. The analyzer is simple in concept and design and inexpensive to build and has been made as small as 6-cm total length. The oscillating ions produce a periodic secondary electron signal whose frequency is mass dependent in mathematically the same way as a conventional time-of-flight analyzer. Because of the oscillating nature of the ions, we have called the analyzer the pulsed oscillating mass spectrometer.