OFFER UNIQUE ADVANTAGES SUCH AS EFFICIENT HEAVY MASS TRANSMISSION, HIGH SENSITIVITY, RAPID TIME RESPONSE AND LOW COST.

OFFER UNIQUE ADVANTAGES SUCH AS EFFICIENT HEAVY MASS TRANSMISSION, HIGH SENSITIVITY, RAPID TIME RESPONSE AND LOW COST. DESPITE THESE ADVANTAGES, A LIMITED MASS RESOLUTION IN ROUTINE OPERATION HAS PREVENTED THE TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASS SPECTROMETER(TOFMS) FROM COMPETING COMMERCIALLY, AS WELL AS TECHNOLOGICALLY, WITH OTHER MORE POPULAR TYPES OF MASS SPECTROMETERS. A RELIABLE, LOW COST HIGH RESOLUTION TOFMS WOULD PERMIT MANY MORE RESEARCH LABORATORIES TO COMPETE MOREEFFECTIVELY IN RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ANALYTICAL APPLICATIONS. THE SUCCESSFUL DEMONSTRATION OF A SINGLE STAGE VELOCITY COMPACTION TOFMS POINTS THE WAY FOR A MARKED IMPROVEMENT IN THE ATTAINABLE RESOLUTION BY THE TOF APPROACH. THE BASIC RELATIONS FOR THE FLIGHT-TIME TRAJECTORIES HAVE BEEN DERIVED FROM FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICAL LAWS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL EXTEND THESE RELATIONS TO A DUAL-STAGE VELOCITY COMPACTION CONFIGURATION FOR WHICH THE RESOLUTION [M/(DELTA)M FWHM] IS EXPECTED TO BE IN THE RANGE OF 10,000-50,000. A SERIES OF COMPUTER SIMULATIONS OFTHE FLIGHT TIMES, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE INITIAL ION PLASMATEMPERATURE, AS WELL AS OTHER PERTINENT PARAMETERS WILL BE MADE. BASED ON THESE RESULTS, PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF A DEMONSTRATION MODEL, DUAL STAGE VELOCITY COMPACTION TOFMS WILL BEGIN.