Designing a multi-reflection time-of-flight mass analyzer for LPT

•A new method has been developed to design an MRTOF mass analyzer.•A different type of MRTOF mass analyzer, in which each mirror consists of five cylindrical electrodes, has been designed.•Maximal resolving power of 1.3 × 105 with a total time-of-flight of 6.5 ms for Ar1+40 has been achieved.

A new method including two sub-procedures, global search and local refine, has been developed and presented to design a multiple-reflection time-of-flight (MRTOF) mass analyzer. By using this method, a different type of MRTOF mass analyzer, in which each mirror consists of five cylindrical electrodes, has been designed for isobaric separation for Lanzhou Penning Trap (LPT). The optimal potential parameters of the electrodes have been obtained and the maximal resolving power has been achieved to be 1.3 × 105 with a total time-of-flight of 6.5 ms for an ion species of Ar1+40. The simulation shows that the inaccuracy of the potentials applied to the mirror electrodes must be less than 50 ppm or preferably 20 ppm.

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