Anharmonic oscillation of ions trapped in a rf trap with light buffer gas

The effect of a light buffer gas on the anharmonic oscillation of ions trapped in a rf trap is studied. The rf resonance absorption signals showed a change of the signal height and the hysteresis with the sweep direction of the dc voltage or the probing frequency due to the anharmonicity of the pseudopotential well of a rf trap. It was found that the signals changed drastically or even disappeared depending on the pressure of buffer gas, although almost the same number of ions were trapped. These effects indicate that the sensitivity of detection of the trapped ions can be improved by appropriately choosing the pressure of the buffer gas and the sweep direction. The trapped ions could be detected until 76 h 20 min and the storage time of 1.3×10⁵ s was determined when these parameters were optimized.