Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance-mass spectrometer

DRAFT DEFINITION
Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance-mass spectrometer
A mass spectrometer based on the principle of ion cyclotron resonance. An ion placed in a magnetic field will move in a circular orbit at a frequency characteristic of its m/z value. Ions are excited to a coherent orbit using a pulse of radio frequency energy and their image charge is detected on receiver plates as a time domain signal. Fourier transformation of the time domain signal results in the frequency domain FT-ICR signal which, on the basis of the inverse proportionality between frequency and m/z, can be converted to a mass spectrum.
Considered between 2004 and 2006 but not included in the 2006 PAC submission
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Orange Book Entry

A high-frequency mass spectrometer in which the cyclotron motion of ions, having different mass/charge ratios, in a constant magnetic field, is excited essentially simultaneously and coherently by a pulse of a radio-frequency electric field applied perpendicularly to the magnetic field. The excited cyclotron motion of the ions is subsequently detected on receiver plates as a time domain signal that contains all the cyclotron frequencies excited. Fourier transformation of the time domain signal results in the frequency domain FT-ICR signal which, on the basis of the inverse proportionality between frequency and mass/charge ratio, can be converted to a mass spectrum. See also ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) mass spectrometer.

External Links

• Principles of Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry and its application in structural biology

• Ion Trap History