Introduction of ions into Kingdon ion traps

1. A Kingdon ion trap comprising:

housing electrodes extending in a longitudinal direction;

inner electrodes spaced from the housing electrodes in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction, the housing electrodes and the inner electrodes being shaped so that ions introduced into the trap can oscillate harmonically in a potential well in the longitudinal direction and independently oscillate in the transverse direction when a DC electric field is established between the housing electrodes and the inner electrodes; and

an entrance tube that extends through one of the housing electrodes and is insulated therefrom and allows ions to enter the ion trap.

2. The Kingdon trap of claim 1 , wherein the entrance tube is located along the longitudinal direction at the maximum ion oscillation amplitude from the minimum of the potential well.

3. The Kingdon trap of claim 1 , wherein the housing electrodes have a maximum inside diameter and wherein the entrance tube has a cylindrical or conical shape with one of a circular, a rectangular and a polygonal cross-section, with a smallest inside diameter of the entrance tube being between 1/20 and 1/100 of the maximum inside diameter of the housing electrodes, and the entrance tube has a wall thickness that is between around ⅕ and 1/20 of the smallest inside diameter.

4. The Kingdon trap of claim 1 , wherein the housing electrodes have an inside diameter and a length and a ratio of the length to the inside diameter is selected so that ions introduced into the trap through the entrance tube oscillate in the longitudinal direction in a manner that the ions return to the location of the entrance tube after at least five longitudinal oscillations.

5. The Kingdon trap of claim 4 wherein the ions return to the location of the entrance tube after at least ten longitudinal oscillations.

6. The Kingdon trap of claim 1 , further comprising a first voltage generator for establishing a DC operating voltage ΔU between the inner electrodes and the housing electrodes.

7. The Kingdon trap of claim 6 , comprising a second voltage generator connected to the entrance tube so that the entrance tube can be held at a measuring phase potential, which differs from the voltage applied by the first voltage generator to the housing electrodes by a maximum of five percent of the operating voltage ΔU, and held at an injection potential which differs from the voltage applied by the first voltage generator to the housing electrodes by five to twenty percent of the operating voltage ΔU.

8. The Kingdon trap of claim 1 , wherein the inner electrodes are centrally divided at right angles to the longitudinal direction and are used to measure image currents produced by the longitudinal ion oscillations.

9. A method for storing ions, comprising:

(a) providing a Kingdon ion trap having housing electrodes extending in a longitudinal direction, inner electrodes spaced from the housing electrodes in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction, the housing electrodes and the inner electrodes being shaped so that ions introduced into the trap can oscillate harmonically in a potential well in the longitudinal direction and independently oscillate in the transverse direction when a DC operating voltage is applied between the housing electrodes and the inner electrodes and an entrance tube that extends through one of the housing electrodes and is insulated therefrom and allows ions to enter the ion trap;

(b) applying to the entrance tube an injection potential which differs from the DC operating voltage by five to twenty percent of the operating voltage;

(c) generating an ion cloud;

(d) transferring ions from the ion cloud through the entrance tube into the Kingdon trap; and

(e) after heaviest ions of interest have entered the Kingdon trap, applying to the entrance tube a measuring phase potential which differs from the DC operating voltage by a maximum of five percent of the operating voltage.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein step (c) comprises generating the ion cloud by laser desorption.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein step (c) comprises generating the ion cloud by trapping ions produced from any type of ion source in one of a two-dimensional Paul trap and a three-dimensional Paul trap.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein step (c) further comprises isolating, fragmenting and reactively manipulating ions in the Paul trap in order to determine ion structure before transferring the ions into the Kingdon trap in step (d).

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein step (b) comprises one of changing the injection potential continuously and changing the injection potential in steps during step (d).

14. A mass spectrometer comprising:

an ion source for producing ions;

a Paul ion trap for receiving the ions; and

a Kingdon ion trap for receiving ions from the Paul ion trap, the Kingdon ion trap having,

housing electrodes extending in a longitudinal direction;

inner electrodes spaced from the housing electrodes in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction, the housing electrodes and the inner electrodes being shaped so that ions introduced into the Kingdon ion trap can oscillate harmonically in a potential well in the longitudinal direction and independently oscillate in the transverse direction when a DC electric field is established between the housing electrodes and the inner electrodes; and

an entrance tube that extends through one of the housing electrodes and is insulated therefrom and allows ions to enter the Kingdon ion trap.