RESOLVING POWER ENHANCEMENT OF A DISCRETE DETECTOR (ARRAY) BY SINGLE EVENT DETECTION

Experiments have been performed to demonstrate the high resolving powe r of a discrete detector array that can be achieved by measuring and p rocessing single ion events (speckle mode). Measurement of the spectru m of Kr+ using a miniature mass spectrometer developed at the jet prop ulsion laboratory equipped with a focal plane detector developed at Ab erystwyth show a large resolving power enhancement in the speckle mode and good agreement with tabulated peak centroids and isotope abundanc es. The mode of operation of the instrument is under software control and is instantly variable. This clearly demonstrates the versatility a nd high performance of the miniaturised system. (Int J Mass Spectrom 1 76 (1998) 99-102) (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.