Until now, it was thought that the optimal static electromagnetic ion trap for Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry should be designed to produce a quadrupolar electrical potential, for which the ion cyclotron frequency is independent of the ion's preexcitation location within the trap. However, a quadrupolar potential results in a transverse (to the magnetic field) electric field that increases linearly with distance from the center of the trap. That radially linear electric field shifts the observed ICR frequency, increases the ICR orbital radius, and ultimately limits the highest mass-to-charge ratio ion that can be contained within the trap. In this paper, we propose a new static electromagnetic ion "trap" in which grounded screens placed just inside the usual "trapping" plates produce a good approximation to a "particle-in-a-box" potential (rather than the quadrupolar "harmonic oscillator" potential). SIMION calculations confirm that the electric potential of the screened trap is near zero almost everywhere within the trap. For our screened orthorhombic (2.5 in. X 2 in. X 2 in.) trap, the experimental ICR frequency shift due to trapping voltage is reduced by a factor of approximately 100, and the experimental variation of ICR frequency with ICR radius is reduced by a factor of approximately 10 compared to a conventional (unscreened) 2-in. cubic ion trap.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
In Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT/ICR) mass spectrometry, coherent ion cyclotron orbital motion is produced by resonant radio frequency (rf) electric field excitation. However, because the excitation electrodes are of finite dimensions, the desired transverse (to the applied magnetic field) rf electric field is accompanied by an rf electric field component along the z- (magnetic field) direction, resulting in mass-dependent z-ejection and mass-dependent FT/ICR mass spectral peak relative magnitudes. Addition of several "guard wires" of voltage-divided rf amplitude allows the rf electric field to be "shimmed" to near-perfect uniformity. In this paper (see also the accompanying paper by Russell et al.), we introduce two types of rf-shimmed ion traps. In the first type, guard wires are placed only in front of the trapping electrodes. In the second type, guard wire rings are placed inside the detector and trapping electrodes. For either arrangement, simion simulations were used to adjust the rf voltages applied (by use of voltage dividers) to the guard wires or rings so as to produce an optimally uniform rf field within the trap. The virtual elimination of z-excitation is confirmed by plots of magnitude-mode relative peak height vs ICR orbital radius. Because the guard wires (or rings) tend to shield the ions from the trapping electrode potential, the shift in ICR frequency with trapping voltage is also reduced, but not as well as by a screened trap.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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