DETERMINATION OF KINETIC-ENERGY RELEASE DISTRIBUTIONS BY METASTABLE PEAK SHAPE-ANALYSIS IN AN ION-TRAP REFLECTRON TIME-OF-FLIGHT INSTRUMENT

A procedure for extraction of the kinetic energy release distribution from the metastable fragment ion peak shape in an ion trap reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer is presented. Peak shapes for a set o f discrete values of kinetic energy releases are calculated and their contributions to the measured peak shape determined. Information about the temporal evolution of each component is required in order to get the correct kinetic energy release distribution. This is obtained by c arrying out the measurements at different times following ion formatio n. The method is demonstrated for the metastable decay of aniline ions formed by multiphoton ionization.