Abstract
In order to optimize an ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) with respect to resolving power and sensitivity, the exact spatial ion density distribution generated by the used ionization source is of major interest. In this work, we investigate the two-dimensional (2D) spatial ion density distribution generated by a 63Ni source and the three-dimensional (3D) spatial ion density distributions generated by a radioactive 3H electron source, our non-radioactive electron source and an X-ray source. Therefore, we used an experimental setup consisting of the ionization source under investigation, an ionization region, a 5 mm short drift tube and a PCB Faraday detector segmented into stripe electrodes to measure the ion current. Repeating this measurement for different detector angles, the resulting 3D spatial ion density distribution can be calculated by image reconstruction. Furthermore, we varied the kinetic electron energy of our non-radioactive electron source in order to validate the simulated ion density distribution shown in previous work.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cochems P, Runge M, Zimmermann S, Zimmermann S A miniaturized non-radioactive electron emitter for atmospheric pressure chemical ionization. 1131–1134
Cochems P, Runge M, Zimmermann S (2014) A current controlled miniaturized non-radioactive electron emitter for atmospheric pressure chemical ionization based on thermionic emission. Sensors Actuators A Phys 206:165–170
Cochems P, Kirk AT, Bunert E, Runge M, Goncalves P, Zimmermann S (2015) Fast pulsed operation of a small non-radioactive electron source with continuous emission current control. Rev Sci Instrum 86(6):65102
Reinecke T, Kirk AT, Heptner A, Niebuhr D, Bottger S, Zimmermann S (2016) A compact high-resolution X-ray ion mobility spectrometer. Rev Sci Instrum 87(5):53120
Bunert E, Reinecke T, Kirk AT, Bohnhorst A, Zimmermann S (2018) Ion mobility spectrometer with orthogonal X-ray source for increased sensitivity. Talanta 185:537–541
Heptner A, Angerstein N, Reinecke T, Bunert E, Kirk AT, Niedzwiecki I, Zimmermann S (2016) Improving the analytical performance of ion mobility spectrometer using a non-radioactive electron source. Int J Ion Mobil Spectrom 19(4):175–182
Heptner A, Reinecke T, Angerstein N, Zimmermann S (2017) A novel ion selective gas sensor based on pulsed atmospheric pressure chemical ionization and ion-ion-recombination. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical
Karpas Z, Eiceman GA, Ewing RG, Algom A, Avida R, Friedman M, Matmor A, Shahal O (1993) Ion distribution profiles in the drift region of an ion mobility spectrometer. Int J Mass Spectrom Ion Process 127:95–104
Davila SJ, Hadjar O, Eiceman GA, Eiceman GA (2013) Ion profiling in an ambient drift tube-ion mobility spectrometer using a high pixel density linear Array detector IonCCD. Anal Chem 85(14):6716–6722
Sukumar H, Davila SJ, Eiceman GA (2014) Patterns of ion distributions from a cylindrical 63 Ni foil in an ion mobility spectrometer. Int J Ion Mobil Spectrom 17(3-4):139–145
Guo K, Ni K, Song X, Li K, Tang B, Yu Q, Qian X, Wang X (2018) Ion distribution profiling in an ion mobility spectrometer by laser-induced fluorescence. Anal Chem 90(7):4514–4520
Kirk AT, Allers M, Cochems P, Langejuergen J, Zimmermann S (2013) A compact high resolution ion mobility spectrometer for fast trace gas analysis. Analyst 138(18):5200–5207
Kirk AT, Zimmermann S (2014) Bradbury-Nielsen vs. field switching shutters for high resolution drift tube ion mobility spectrometers. Int J Ion Mobil Spectrom 17(3-4):131–137
Porter FT (1959) Beta decay energy of tritium. Phys Rev 115(2):450–453
Bunert E, Heptner A, Reinecke T, Kirk AT, Zimmermann S (2017) Shutterless ion mobility spectrometer with fast pulsed electron source. Rev Sci Instrum 88(2):24102
Preiss IL, Fink RW, Robinson BL (1957) The beta spectrum of carrier-free Ni63. J Inorg Nucl Chem 4(5-6):233–236
Hetherington DW, Graham RL, Lone MA, Geiger JS, Lee-Whiting GE, Hetherington DW, Graham RL, Lone MA, Geiger JS, AGE L-W (1987) Upper limits on the mixing of heavy neutrinos in the beta decay of Ni63. Phys Rev C 36:1504–1513
Kirk AT, Zimmermann S (2015) Pushing a compact 15 cm long ultra-high resolution drift tube ion mobility spectrometer with R = 250 to R = 425 using peak deconvolution. Int J Ion Mobil Spectrom 18(1-2):17–22
Cochems P, Kirk AT, Zimmermann S (2014) In-circuit-measurement of parasitic elements in high gain high bandwidth low noise transimpedance amplifiers. Rev Sci Instrum 85(12):124703
Oliveira EF, Melo SB, Dantas CC, Vasconcelos DAA, Cadiz LF (2011) Comparison among tomographic reconstruction algorithms with a limited data. International Nuclear Atlantic Conference
Kak AC, Slaney M (2001) Principles of computerized tomographic imaging. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Morozov A, Heindl T, Skrobol C, Wieser J, Krücken R, Ulrich A (2008) Transmission of ~10 keV electron beams through thin ceramic foils: measurements and Monte Carlo simulations of electron energy distribution functions. Eur Phys J D 48(3):383–388
Wieser J, Murnick DE, Ulrich A, Huggins HA, Liddle A, Brown WL (1997) Vacuum ultraviolet rare gas excimer light source. Rev Sci Instrum 68(3):1360–1364
Eiceman GA, Karpas Z, Hill HH (2013) Ion mobility spectrometry. 3rd ed. CRC Press
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bunert, E., Kirk, A.T., Käbein, O. et al. Comparison of spatial ion distributions from different ionization sources. Int. J. Ion Mobil. Spec. 22, 21–29 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12127-018-0241-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12127-018-0241-3