Discussions of the above methods have assumed that the ionization process removes one or more electrons from the atom or molecule to produce a positive ion. Negative ions are formed by many of these same methods as well and can be useful in mass spectrometry. The accelerating voltages of the source and the direction of analyzing fields must be reversed, but the detectors respond equally well, with the exception of the Daly detector (see below Ion beam detection: Daly detector). Arc discharges and electron impact produce negative ions, although at rates varying widely according to the construction and mode of operation. Negative ions can be formed in a two-stage process wherein positive ions are accelerated into a gas from which they capture two electrons, a technique infrequently used in mass spectrometry. Negative ions can result from thermal ionization, with those of the halogens easily formed. The elements rhenium, iridium, platinum, and gold are efficiently ionized as molecular negative ions for important applications in geochemistry. The cesium sputter source produces copious quantities of negative ions and is used exclusively for accelerator mass spectrometry. In this source the low ionization potential of cesium is utilized in two ways: (1) surface ionization provides a beam of positive cesium ions that bombard a sample having a thin layer of cesium condensed on it; and (2) the atoms or molecules dislodged by the bombarding beam capture an electron from this layer. In addition to providing beams for accelerator mass spectrometry, this source completely changed the manner in which tandem Van de Graaff accelerators are employed in nuclear physics (see below Accelerator mass spectrometry). Roy Middleton of the United States invented and developed the cesium sputter source.

General objectives

The separation of ions according to their mass is accomplished with static magnetic fields, time-varying electric fields, or methods that clock the speeds of ions having the same energies—the time-of-flight method. Static electric fields cannot separate ions by their mass but do separate them by their energy and so provide an important design element by functioning as an energy filter; they are described here along with magnetic fields.

Magnetic field analysis

Ions of mass m and charge z moving in vacuo with a velocity v in a direction perpendicular to a magnetic field B will follow a circular path with radius r given by

Therefore, all ions with the same charge and momentum entering the magnetic field from a common point will move in the same radius r and will come to a first-order focus after 180°, as shown in, regardless of their masses. Hence, the mass spectrometer used by Dempster can be referred to as a “momentum spectrometer.” If all ions of charge z enter the magnetic field with an identical kinetic energy zV, owing to their acceleration through a voltage drop V, a definite velocity v will be associated with each mass, and the radius will depend on the mass. Since zV = 1/2mv ², substitution in the previous equation will give m/z = B²r²/2V. This formula shows that the radius of curvature r for ions in this spectrometer depends only on the ratio of the ions’ mass to charge, as long as their kinetic energy is the same. Thus, a magnetic field can be used to separate a monoenergetic ion beam into its various mass components. A magnetic field will also exert a focusing action on a monoenergetic beam of ions of mass m as is shown in Figure 2. In this figure an ion beam emerges from a point A with a spread in direction 2α and comes to an approximate focus at B after traversing 180°. When a molecular ion of mass m₁ carries a single positive charge, it may decompose in front of the magnetic sector to form a fragment ion of mass m₂ and a neutral fragment. If there is no kinetic energy of separation of the fragments, the ion m₂, and also the neutral fragment, will continue along the direction of motion of m₁ with unchanged velocity. The equation of motion for the ion m₂ entering the magnetic sector can now be written from a previous relationship, r = m₂v/Bz. In this equation v is the initial velocity appropriate to m₁ and given by Square root of√2zV/m₁. Multiplying both sides of the equation v = Square root of√2zV/m₁ by m₂, one obtains m₂v = Square root of√2zV (m 2/2/m₁). Since the general momentum equation for any mass m can be written mv = Square root of√2zVm, it is apparent from the former equation that the momentum m₂v is appropriate to an ion of mass m 2/2/m₁. Thus, the decomposition of the metastable ion will give rise to a peak at an apparent mass m* = m 2/2/m₁, not necessarily an integral number. This peak is known as a metastable peak. Generally, metastable peaks occur at nonintegral mass numbers, and, because there usually is a kinetic energy of separation during fragmentation of the polyatomic ion, they tend to be more diffuse than the normal mass peaks and thus are recognized easily. For any value of m* a pair of integers m₁ and m₂ can be found such that m* = m 2/2/m₁. Thus, the action of the magnetic field on the charged metastable-ion decomposition product can be used to give information on the individual fragmentation processes taking place in a mass spectrometer.

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