Plural beam mass spectrometer for conducting high and low resolution studies

Claim 2

The spectrometer of claim 1 wherein the means for delineating plural beams includes means to prevent beam interaction.

Claim 3

A plural beam mass spectrometer for plural spectral analysis comprising: a. an ion source for producing ions of like polarity and of a material to be analyzed; b. slit means for delineating plural ion beams along a path; c. means for restricting the mass spectral range of ions in at least one ion beam relative to at least another ion beam; d. analyzer means for applying like deflecting forces to each beam for deflecting the path of the plural ion beams; and e. collector means for respectively collecting the plural ion beams.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said means for restricting the mass spectral range of ions is adjustable.

Claim 5

A double beam mass spectrometer for conducting high and low resolution studies of material comprising: a. an ion source for producing ions of a material to be analyzed; b. first means having first and second source slits through which a portion of said ions may pass as first and second ion beams respectively, said first source slit having larger dimensions than said second source slit; c. second means having first and second collector slits through which said first and second ion beams respectively may pass, said first collector slit having larger dimensions than said second collector slit; d. third means disposed in said first and second ion beams and interposed between said first means and said second means having first and second collimating slits through which said first and second ion beams may pass, said third means including means to inhibit ion beam interaction; e. analyzer means for deflecting the path of the first and second ion beams; and f. first and second collectors adapted for receiving said first and second ion beams respectively after having passed through said first and second collector slits.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said second source slit and said second collector slit are adjustable.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said first source slit and said first collector slit are adjustable.

Claim 9

The method of claim 9 wherein plural ion beams including ions of a common mass are collected simultaneously.

Claim 10

The method of claim 9 wherein at least two separate samples of material are used to produce ions and wherein the plural ion beams include some ions of a common mass.

Claim 11

A mass spectrometer comprising: a. source means for establishing two distinct beams of ions of like polarity; b. first and second collector means adapted to receive ions from first and second beams respectively when focused on the collectors; c. means establishing an ion path of travel from the source means to the collector means; d. a magnetic analyzer along said path and positioned to apply like magnetic flux to each of said distinct ion beams; and e. beam delineating means along said path for restricting the mass spectral range of the ions in each of said paths.

Claim 12

The spectrometer of claim 12 wherein the beam delineating means includes means to prevent interaction of the two beams.

Claim 13

The spectrometer of claim 12 wherein the ion source means comprises two separate sources.

Claim 14

The spectrometer of claim 12 wherein the means establishing the ion beam path includes a pair of separate ion tubes.

Claim 15

The spectrometer of claim 12 wherein the source means is a single source.

Claim 16

The spectrometer of claim 12 wherein the means establishing the ion path includes a tube through which both beams travel.

Claim 18

The method of claim 18 including the steps of forming one of the beams from a material to be analyzed and the other from a reference compound.

Claim 19

The method of claim 18 wherein one of said beams is resolved to a relatively high resolving power and resolving the other beam to a relatively low resolving power.

Claim 20

The method of claim 18 including the steps of simultaneously conducting a high resolution study of the mass spectrum of a sample and a metastable ion analysis of the sample.

Claim 21

A mass spectrometer comprising: a Ion source means for producing ions of a material and establishing produced ions into beams; b. collector means for receiving ions in such beams; c. means establishing ion beam paths from the source means to the collector means; d. an analyzer along said paths and positioned to apply ion deflecting forces to ions passing along each path; and e. the means establishing the ion beam paths including a pair of curved ion tubes each extending over at least a portion of one of said paths whereby two ion beams may be formed and analyzed simultaneously.

Claim 22

The spectrometer of claim 22 wherein the curvature of the two tubes is equal.

Claim 23

The spectrometer of claim 22 wherein the ion source means comprises two separate sources.

Claim 24

The spectrometer of claim 22 wherein the source means is a single source.