Multiple active voltage stabilizations for multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometry

The performance of a multi-reflection time-of-flight (MR-ToF) mass spectrometer is evaluated under the use of four voltage feedback loops to actively regulate its mirror potentials. Different electronic hardware is characterized to find the most useful configuration for parallel regulation of all of the MR-ToF analyzer's reflecting potentials. The gain in mass resolving power for low-abundance ion species is demonstrated by measuring pairs of molecular isobars of zinc clusters and analyzed in the context of expected flight-time fluctuations. For higher-abundance species, the resolving powers reached in short- and long-term measurements are probed with bismuth-cluster ions, resulting in values up to 500000 and 200000, respectively, in the absence of offline corrections. Additionally, feedback-loop regulation is found to be advantageous for changes of experiment cycles in which voltages are switched for, e.g., ion ejection.

Automated summary

The study evaluated the performance of a multi-reflection time-of-flight (MR-ToF) mass spectrometer using four voltage feedback loops to actively regulate mirror potentials, reaching higher resolving powers for low-abundance ion species. The results demonstrate that feedback-loop regulation is advantageous for changes in experiment cycles and can improve mass spectrometry resolution.