Optimization of a quadrupole ion storage trap as a source for time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Designs of a quadrupole ion trap (QIT) as a source for time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry are evaluated for mass resolution, ion trapping, and laser activation of trapped ions. Comparisons are made with the standard hyperbolic electrode ion trap geometry for TOF mass analysis in both linear and reflectron modes. A parallel-plate design for the QIT is found to give significantly improved TOF mass spectrometer performance. Effects of ion temperature, trapped ion cloud size, mass, and extraction field on mass resolution are investigated in detail by simulation of the TOF peak profiles. Mass resolution (m/Δm) values of several thousand are predicted even at room temperature with moderate extraction fields for the optimized design. The optimized design also allows larger radial ion collection size compared with the hyperbolic ion trap, without compromising the mass resolution. The proposed design of the QIT also improves the ion-laser interaction volume and photon collection efficiency for fluorescence measurements on trapped ions.     

Homotopy analysis method to study a quadrupole mass filter

The homotopy analysis method (HAM) is applied to study the behavior of a hyperbolic rods of quadrupole mass filter and a sinusoidal potential form V(ac) cos(Ωt). Numerical computation method of a 20th-order HAM is employed to compare the physical properties of the confined ions with fifth-order Runge-Kutta method. Also, comparison is made for the first stability region, the ion trajectories in real time, the polar plots, and the ion trajectory in x?-?y plan. The results show that the two methods are fairly similar; therefore, the HAM method has potential application to solve linear and nonlinear equations of the charge particle confinement in quadrupole field.     

Generation of an extraction electric field in an electromembrane ion source

A mechanism of generating an extraction field in an ion source in which a polymer track membrane with nanodimensional channels is used as an environment-vacuum interface is considered. A high electric field necessary for the effective extraction of ions from a liquid on the membrane surface into the gas phase is maintained by charging the vacuum surface of the membrane. Charging is provided by oppositely charged secondary ions resulting from the disintegration of primary cluster ions on the extraction electrode. A decrease in the source current observed when the vacuum surface discharges counts in favor of this mechanism. The extracted ion energy distribution in the neighborhood of the extraction zone is obtained by the retarding potential method. Various aspects of ion beam formation in the membrane ion source are discussed.     

Concept of the effective potential in describing the motion of ions in a quadrupole mass filter

We propose a generalization of the effective potential theory for the motion of particles in a rapidly oscillating electric field for the stability parameters lying near the boundary of the diagram where the standard effective potential theory is inapplicable. We derive the dynamic equations describing the variation of the envelope of ion oscillations for the motion of ions near the stability vertex of the first zone of the quadrupole mass filter. We reduce them to the form of the Hamilton equations for oscillations of a material particle in the field of potential forces. We obtain expressions for the effective potential well. It is shown that in spite of the high kinetic energy of oscillations, the depth of the effective potential well for ions in the quadrupole is less than 1 eV in the case of filtration with a mass resolution exceeding 200 units. The acceptance of the mass filter is calculated as a function of the stability parameters and the resolving power.     

Generation of even harmonics in a relativistic laser plasma of atomic clusters

It is shown that the irradiation of atomic clusters by a superintense femtosecond laser pulse gives rise to various harmonics of the laser field. They arise as a result of elastic collisions of free electrons with atomic ions inside the clusters in the presence of the laser filed. The yield of even harmonics whose electromagnetic field is transverse is attributed to the relativism of the motion of electrons and the consideration of their drift velocity associated with the internal ionization of atoms and atomic ions of a cluster. These harmonics are emitted in the same direction as odd harmonics. The conductivities and electromagnetic fields of the harmonics are calculated. The generation efficiency of the harmonics slowly decreases as the harmonic number increases. The generation of even harmonics ceases when the drift velocity of electrons becomes equal to zero and only the oscillation velocity of electrons is nonzero. The results can also be applied to the irradiation of solid-state targets inside a skin layer.     

The Hall effect and oscillating decay of a magnetic field

The decay of a strong magnetic field in a conducting matter is considered. It is shown that nondissipative Hall currents can considerably change the behavior of the field when it decays. The nonlinear character of the Hall effect leads to the generation of fields of high multipolarity even for most simple initial magnetic configurations. In particular, the evolution of an initially dipole configuration may give rise not only to quadrupole or higher poloidal harmonics but also to a toroidal field that is other than zero only inside the conductor. The nonlinear Hall currents relate different harmonics to each other and, in a sufficiently strong field, may provide efficient energy exchange between them. Due to this redistribution of the magnetic energy, the evolution of different harmonics has an oscillating character. The oscillation period is determined by the characteristic time of Hall drift and may be fairly short in strong magnetic fields.     

Numerical Modeling of Ion-Optical Systems for Extraction of a Beam of Negative Hydrogen Ions and Its Acceleration and Matching with a Radio-Frequency Quadrupole Accelerator

A source of negative hydrogen ions is constructed at the Institute for High Energy Physics in order to raise the intensity of the U-70 accelerator complex using multiturn charge-exchange injection. The 3D ion-optical IBSimu simulation package was used to model and optimize the system for extraction of an ion beam from plasma, its acceleration to 100 keV, and matching with a radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator. The system of extraction of an ion beam with a current of 50 mA and electron-flow suppression was modeled. The magnetic transport channels with two solenoids and six quadrupole lenses were compared. The end goals of analysis of the matching channel were to obtain the needed Twiss parameters and to minimize the emittance growth at the RFQ input.     

Instability of Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Harmonic Waves in Plasmas

The stability of electromagnetic ion cyclotron harmonic waves propagating normal to an external magnetic field is studied for plasmas whose ions possess loss cone type velocity distributions. It is found that, if the ions are stationary, no instability develops except in the extreme case when the ratio of parallel to perpendicular "temperatures" of the ions is of the order mi/me, where mi and me are the ion and electron masses respectively. However, for the case of two counterstreaming ion beams in a neutralizing background of electrons, instability at zero frequency and near the first several ion cyclotron harmonics can occur if the streaming velocity is of the order of the electron thermal speed.     

7Li NMR investigation of Li-Li pair ordering in the paraelectric phase of weakly substitutionally disordered K(1-x)Li(x)TaO3

Breaking of the average cubic symmetry in Li-doped potassium tantalate was observed with quadrupole-perturbed 7Li NMR at temperatures (150-400?K) far above the nominal glass transition temperature (≈50 K for Li concentration x=0.03). The observed spectrum consists of contributions from both isolated Li ions (i.e., with no nearest-neighbor Li) and from Li-Li pairs. The isolated Li ions move among six equivalent off-center sites in a potential having cubic symmetry. These have zero average electric field gradient and, hence, exhibit no quadrupole splitting. In addition, very low intensity, but well resolved, quadrupole satellites having a temperature-dependent splitting were observed. This splitting indicates that the various Li-Li pair configurations are not all equally probable. These are the first direct observations of biased Li ion ordering that persists in the paraelectric phase at temperatures high above the glass phase.     

Numerical calculations of potential distribution in non-ideal quadrupole trap and simulations of anharmonic oscillations

A quadrupole ion trap consisting of electrode structures symmetric about z-axis is an important tool for conducting several precision experiments. In practice the field inside the trap does not remain purely quadrupolar, and can be calculated using numerical methods. We have used boundary element method to calculate the potential inside the truncated as well as symmetrically misaligned quadrupolar ion trap. The calculated potential values are fitted to multipole expansion and the weights of multipole moments have been evaluated by minimizing the least square deviation. The higher-order multipole contribution in the fabricated hyperbolic electrodes due to truncation and machining imperfections is discussed. Non-linear effects arising due to the superposition of octupole moment manifest as anharmonic oscillations of trapped ions in the non-ideal Paul trap. Theoretical simulations of non-linear effects have been carried out.      

Negative Ion Kinetics in RF Glow Discharges

Using temporally and spatially resolved laser spectroscopy, we have determined the identities, approximate concentrations, effects on the local field, and kinetics of formation and loss of negative ions in RF discharges. Cl- and BCl3- are the dominant negative ions found in low-frequency discharges through Cl2 and BCl3, respectively. The electron affinity for Cl is measured to be 3.6118 ± 0.0005 eV. Negative ion kinetics are strongly affected by application of the RF field. Formation of negative ions by attachment of slow electrons in RF discharges is governed by the extent and duration of electron energy relaxation. Similarly, destruction of negative ions by collisional detachment and field extraction is dependent upon ion energy modulation. Thus, at low frequency, the anion density peaks at the beginning of the anodic and cathodic half-cycles after electrons have attached but before detachment and extraction have had time to occur. At higher frequencies, electrons have insufficient time to attach before they are reheated and the instantaneous anion density in the sheath is greatly reduced. When the negative ion density is comparable to the positive ion density, the plasma potential is observed to lie below the anode potential, double layers form between sheath and plasma, and anions and electrons are accelerated by large sheath fields to electrode surfaces.     

Mass-selective trapping of pulsed charged particle beams

The phase-space method is used to evaluate the mass-selective ion confinement properties of the radio-frequency (rf) quadrupole ion trap with phase-synchronized switching-on of the driving rf field for pulsed ion injection from an external source. The results are of interest for on-line investigations of both short-lived isotopes and stable highly charged ions. In particular, singly charged ions with an energy of 10 eV and a mass in the neighborhood of 100 amu, injected along the gap or through an aperture on one of the electrodes, are considered. Mass-selective storage of the injected ions is possible for any trap operation point within the stability region by allowing a field-free drift distance before ion injection. It is shown that after appropriate scaling the results apply to the trapping of any pulsed beam of charged particles.     

On the feasibility of performing non-linear autocorrelation with attosecond pulse trains

We present experimental results in which a second-order effect, namely two-photon ionization of atomic He induced by a superposition of harmonics, is observed. The harmonics are generated in a Xe gas-jet using a 790-nm 10-Hz femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser and are subsequently focused into a He gas-jet with a Kirkpatrick–Baez arrangement. The superposition is formed by using a thin In filter and it comprises the 7th to 13th harmonics. Solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for He in a polychromatic laser field, the He ⁺ ion yield is calculated as a function of the total XUV intensity. Using the calculated yield and taking into account the focusing and transmission properties of the arrangement, the number of He ⁺ ions produced per laser pulse is estimated and is found to be in reasonable agreement with its measured value. The total number of ions produced non-resonantly follows a nearly quadratic dependence on the harmonic intensity, thus establishing the feasibility of a second-order auto-correlation measurement of the superposition of harmonics, i.e., of a direct temporal characterization of attosecond pulse trains.     

Asymmetry of Stark profiles

The theoretical basis is presented that allows to compute the Stark broadened line shapes of atomic ions up to the quadrupole terms in the interaction potential between the radiator and the plasma electric microfields and their gradients. The nature of the corrections due to the plasma polarization effects associated with the electron distribution around ion perturbers are carefully analyzed. The relevant universal plasma functions are evaluated in a cluster expansion or by Monte Carlo simulations, and the line shape is calculated with ion dynamic effects by the Model Microfield Method. The asymmetry of the Lyman line of hydrogenic ions is then studied. Received 21 January 2000 and Received in final form 27 April 2000     

磁场调控型离子源的设计与实验

磁场调控型离子源在离子源等离子体扩散空间中引入轴向强脉冲磁场,磁场起两方面的作用,一是形成潘宁放电效应,使原子、气体分子碰撞电离效率增加;二是在脉冲强磁场的作用下,强轴向磁场将质量较轻的离子约束在轴线上,对质量较重的金属离子约束能力较弱,导致其在等离子体膨胀引出通道中碰壁损失,能够提升引出轻离子的比例。开展了磁场调控的离子源放电结构、强脉冲螺线管磁场以及引出束流光学结构的设计;测量分析了引出离子流强和离子打靶束斑形貌。研究结果表明,强轴向磁场通过等离子体对混合离子成分的筛选作用,可有效提高引出离子流强中的轻离子成分比例。     

Extraction of thermalized projectile fragments from gas

The NSCL gas cell and quadrupole ion-guide system has been used to study the thermalization of fast nuclear reaction products in a buffer gas. The fraction of radioactive ions that can be extracted from the gas cell is dramatically suppressed by space charge created by the stopping ions. The results of a review of the ion yields from the NSCL and from other gas cells from the literature with different sizes and different incident particle energies shows an overall consistency with a dramatic decline in extraction efficiency at high ionization rates.     

Technical developments for an upgrade of the LEBIT Penning trap mass spectrometry facility for rare isotopes

The LEBIT (Low Energy Beam and Ion Trap) facility is the only Penning trap mass spectrometry (PTMS) facility to utilize rare isotopes produced via fast-beam fragmentation. This technique allows access to practically all elements lighter than uranium, and in particular enables the production of isotopes that are not available or that are difficult to obtain at isotope separation on-line facilities. The preparation of the high-energy rare-isotope beam produced by projectile fragmentation for low-energy PTMS experiments is achieved by gas stopping to slow down and thermalize the fast-beam ions, along with an rf quadrupole cooler and buncher and rf quadrupole ion guides to deliver the beam to the Penning trap. During its first phase of operation LEBIT has been very successful, and new developments are now underway to access rare isotopes even farther from stability, which requires dealing with extremely short lifetimes and low production rates. These developments aim at increasing delivery efficiency, minimizing delivery and measurement time, and maximizing use of available beam time. They include an upgrade to the gas-stopping station, active magnetic field monitoring and stabilization by employing a miniature Penning trap as a magnetometer, the use of stored waveform inverse Fourier transform (SWIFT) to most effectively remove unwanted ions, and charge breeding.     

平行板静电场法离子引出的对称收集

离子引出的研究在AVLIS工程中有重要的意义，离子引出量和引出时间直接关系到整个系统 的离子收集效率. 在静电场中，由于等离子体屏蔽效应的存在，等离子体电位要高于正、负 极板的电位，而且在靠近正、负极板的两侧均存在鞘层. 理论模拟表明在正极板一边也可以 引出离子. 选取铯（Cs）作为实验对象，研究静电场对Cs等离子体的离子引出，使用安装在 两个极板上的法拉第筒收集离子引出信号. 实验结果表明，正极板确实可以引出离子，随着 外加电压的升高，从正极板一边引出离子的比率降低. 关键词： AVLIS 离子引出 等离子体     

Dynamic nature of the ion wake in dusty plasmas

The dynamic nature of the ion wake formed downstream a dust particle immersed in a plasma with flowing ions has been investigated via Particle-in-Cell simulation. It is found that the wake oscillates in time and the motion is characterized by some dominant frequencies. By means of signal processing analysis, three harmonics are detected (two at low frequencies and one at high frequencies) and compared to the characteristic plasma frequencies given by the dispersion relations for ions and electrons. Good matching is found between the high frequency harmonic and the electron plasma frequency, and between the low frequency harmonics and the ion acoustic and ion plasma frequencies.