A gated trapping strategy with a two-time constant and a delay for catching in-field generated ions that range over three decades in mass-to-charge and two decades in velocity in Fourier-transform mass spectrometry.

In-field, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) may provide a means to keep part of the original promise of Fourier-transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) to give high performance and versatile mass spectrometry from a mechanically simple instrument. Gated trapping has been employed as a means of catching MALDI-produced ions in the FTMS trap. This approach is important for both in-field and externally produced ions. Even with improvements, gated trapping has not yet been able to catch ions over wide ranges of mass-to-charge and velocity. A design of a "two-time constant with a delay" gated trapping strategy using "idealized" potentials in a normalized system is given as an example to establish that in principle gated trapping strategies can capture ions that range over three decades of m/z and two decades in velocity. A procedure for calculating a physical system from the normalized system is given. The design is tolerant of variations in the physical parameters used to define the physical system from the normalized system.