Tracking the Magnetron Motion in FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Abstract. In Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) the ion magnetron motion is not usually directly measured, yet its contribution to the performance of the FT-ICR cell is important. Its presence is manifested primarily by the appearance of even-numbered harmonics in the spectra. In this work, the relationship between the ion magnetron motion in the ICR cell and the intensities of the second harmonic signal and its sideband peak in the FT-ICR spectrum is studied. Ion motion simulations show that during a cyclotron motion excitation of ions which are offset to the cell axis, a position-dependent radial drift of the cyclotron center takes place. This radial drift can be directed outwards if the ion is initially offset towards one of the detection electrodes, or it can be directed inwards if the ion is initially offset towards one of the excitation electrodes. Consequently, a magnetron orbit diameter can increase or decrease during a resonant cyclotron excitation. A method has been developed to study this behavior of the magnetron motion by acquiring a series of FT-ICR spectra using varied post-capture delay (PCD) time intervals. PCD is the delay time after the capture of the ions in the cell before the cyclotron excitation of the ion is started. Plotting the relative intensity of the second harmonic sideband peak versus the PCD in each mass spectrum leads to an oscillating BPCD curve". The position and height of minima and maxima of this curve can be used to interpret the size and the position of the magnetron orbit. Ion motion simulations show that an off-axis magnetron orbit generates even-numbered harmonic peaks with sidebands at a distance of one magnetron frequency and multiples of it. This magnetron offset is due to a radial offset of the electric field axis versus the geometric cell axis. In this work, we also show how this offset of the radial electric field center can be corrected by applying appropriate DC correction voltages to the mantle electrodes of the ICR cell while observing the signals of the second harmonic peak group. The field correction leads to a definite performance increase in terms of resolving power and mass accuracy, and the mass spectrum contains intensity-minimized even-numbered harmonics. This is very important in the case of high performance cells, particularly the dynamically harmonized cell, since the magnetron motion can severely impair the averaging effect for dynamic harmonization and can therefore reduce the resolving power.

Optimization of ion trajectories in a dynamically harmonized Fourier‐transform ion cyclotron resonance cell using a design of experiments strategy

“…The tuning of the ICR cell was established with eight principal parameters, four shimming parameters (shimming 0°, shimming 180°, shimming 90°, and shimming 270°) and four gating parameters (gated 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°). 11 The set of shimming parameters…”

“…In addition, the ion packet undergoes a drift of a trajectory equal to ExB where E is the electric field and B is the magnetic field. Both these movements allow the ion packet to be trapped in the cell …”

“…However, in practice, the imperfections in the alignment cause a bias in the position of the ion packets and thus a deviation in the synchronization of cyclotron motion. This issue is solved by adding another set of segments to the dynamically harmonized cell to smooth imperfections by applying additional DC (direct current) voltages . With this approach, it is possible to decrease the abundance of even‐harmonic signals and, thus, to minimize magnetron motion.…”

“…Both these movements allow the ion packet to be trapped in the cell. 2,11 The shape of the ICR cell has been improved steadily over time from the first cubic geometry 12 to a variety of spherical designs varying in electrode shape and number. 13 Examples include the orthorhombic capacitively coupled cell developed by Beu in 1991 14 or the infinity cell designed by Caravatti et al in 1991 15 with the latter remaining the most commonly used nowadays.…”

“…This issue is solved by adding another set of segments to the dynamically harmonized cell to smooth imperfections by applying additional DC (direct current) voltages. 11 With this approach, it is possible to decrease the abundance of even-harmonic signals and, thus, to minimize magnetron motion. However, the values for the DC voltages applied additionally must be tuned manually, which requires highly trained personnel and is tedious and time-consuming.…”