Quadrupole Mass Filter

A quadrupole mass filter uses an RF quadrupole electric field to filter particles by m/z.

See SIMION Example: quad.

Screenshots of “quad” example

Fig. 48 Adjustable tuning parameters.

Fig. 49 Cut-out 3D view of ion simulation

Fig. 50 2D side view of trajectories.

Fig. 51 Potential energy view of target.

Fig. 52 Potential energy and contour lines of 2D quadrupole rods.

See Also

• SIMION Example: quad - RF quadrupole mass filter, 3D

• SIMION Example: trap - RF quadrupole ion trap

• SIMION Example: octupole - RF octupole guide, 2D

• Quadrupole Deflector - DC quadrupole

• Mathieu Equation and Stability Diagram

• Electrode Surface Enhancement / Fractional Grid Units - recommended for improving field accuracy of quadrupoles

• Wikipedia: Quadrupole_mass_analyzer

• Articles - too numerous to list, but here’s a more recent paper:

  • ElgerSchmidt2017. Elger, B. Schmidt, T. Krähling, S. Neuberger, F. Schäfer, R. Electrostatic simulation of a complete cluster deposition apparatus. Review of Scientific Instruments. volume 88, issue 6, year 2017, pages 063303 – SIMION simulator with quad deflector and quad mass filter, lenses, MPI, Poisson. doi:10.1063/1.4984968 link