An rf-carpet electrospray ion source to provide isobaric mass calibrants for trans-uranium elements

For trans-uranium elements, stable atomic isobars do not exist. In order to provide isobaric reference ions for the mass measurement of trans-uranium elements, an electrospray ion source (ESI) was combined with an rf-carpet to collect molecular ions efficiently. The rf-carpet allows for simplification of the pumping system to transport ions from the ESI to a precision mass analyzer. Molecular ions appropriate for isobaric references of trans-uranium elements were extracted from the rf-carpet and analyzed by a multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrograph (MRTOF-MS) with a resolving power of Rm ≳ 100, 000.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (235 K)Download as PowerPoint slideHighlights► A molecular ion source that provides mass calibrants for the multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrograph (MRTOF-MS). ► The MRTOF-MS will be used for mass measurements of short-lived nuclei and superheavy elements. ► The ion source differs from conventional electrospray systems by the use of an rf-carpet instead of the standard skimmer. ► The use of the rf-carpet allows efficient extraction from the ion source and simple pumping system. ► The molecular ions were analyzed by the MRTOF-MS, which could reach a mass resolving power of 100,000.