1. The liquid sample is mixed with argon gas by the nebulizer to form an aerosol..
2. The smallest droplets pass through the spray chamber and into the ion source - the plasma
3. The sample is de-solvated and ionized in the plasma
4. Ions are extracted from the plasma by extraction lenses in
the interface region
5. An isolation valve
separates the high vacuum
region (spectrometer) from
the sample introduction area
to facilitate maintenance
6. Ion lenses and octopole ion guides
focus and collimate the ions.
The Omega lens bends the ion
beam off-axis to prevent photons
from striking the detector
7. The quadrupole mass
spectrometer separates
ions based on their mass
to charge ratio. The selected
ions continue on to the detector
8. Ions are measured
using a discrete dynode
detector providing
9 orders of linear dynamic
range