US Patent 6888130 Electrostatic ion trap mass spectrometers

An improved electrostatic ion trap mass spectrometer based on two reflectrons and Fourier Transform analysis is disclosed. An ensemble of ions with a kinetic energy falling into a certain range will do isochronous oscillations in this reflectron trap. The image charge transient of those oscillations is processed with a data acquisition system similar to those used in FT-MS to get a mass spectrum. Various application-specific ion extractors, ion storage prior to extraction, MS/MS techniques and MSn techniques are also disclosed.