PNNL

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a control system for an ion trap mass spectrometer that is both inexpensive and flexible, allowing application of ion trap technology to a number of research areas. This project is part of the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), a U.S. Department of Energy national scientific user facility, located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington. EMSL offers a comprehensive array of cutting-edge resources that are available to its users. Among these resources are a number of custom-built ion trap mass spectrometers (ITMS) that are are devoted to stuides in scientific areas including atmopsheric chemistry, diesel catalysis, biological applications as well as applications in defense and homeland security. The primary thrust of this effort is to develop a basic hardware and software platform for ion trap mass spectrometry (ITMS) that will allow the construction and deployment of systems with capabilities tailored to the specific needs of a variety of scientific applications. The emphasis will be on the use of chemical ionization techniques to address the need for highly sensitive and specific measurements as well as analytical needs dictated by research areas such as atmospheric chemistry, catalysis, materials science, biology, and inhalation toxicology. This ITMS platform can also be used to develop and deploy systems for critical applications such as chemical weapons detection and nuclear proliferation monitoring.