Electric ion dispersion as a new type of mass spectrometer

At the 2014 Fields-MPrime Industrial Problem Solving Workshop, PerkinElmer presented a design problem for mass spectrometry. Traditionally, mass spectrometry is done via three methods: using magnetic fields to deflect charged particles whereby different masses bend differently; using a time-of-flight procedure where particles of different mass arrive at different times at a target; and using an electric quadrupole that filters out all masses except for one very narrow band. The challenge posed in the problem was to come up with a new design for mass spectrometry that did not involve magnetic fields and where mass fractions could be measured in an entire sample on a continuous basis. We found that by sending the sample particles down a channel of line charges oscillations would be induced with a spatial wavelength being mass dependent thereby allowing different masses to be separated spatially and potentially detected on a continuous basis, without the use of magnetic fields. In this paper, we present the analysis of our design and illustrate how this principle could be used for mass spectrometry.