This project is in the general area of analytical and surface chemistry and in the subfield of mass spectrometry. Professor David Laude will study the means to manipulate the packet of ions which cycle in ion cyclotron resonance. Dynamic trapping techniques will be used to control the kinetic energy distributions of ions within the cyclotron cell. This leads to improvement of resolution and high mass detection in Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS). Further work with the improved detection system will focus on design and construction of a fiber optic interface for laser desorption FTMS. Suspended trapping techniques will be used to control the concentration of neutral species within the cyclotron cell. This research will have impact on the coupling of chromatographic streams to the FTMS enabling direct analysis of very complex mixtures.
