Patent ID: 9536721
Date: 2017-01-03
CPC Classifications: H01J

Claim:
1. A device for manipulating charged particles, the device comprising: a series of electrodes arranged so as to form a channel for transportation of the charged particles, the series of electrodes being adjacent to one another along a length of the channel; a power supply unit adapted to provide supply voltages to said electrodes so as to create a non-uniform high-frequency electric field within said channel, the pseudopotential of said field having two or more local maxima along the length of said channel for transportation of charged particles, at least within a certain interval of time, wherein transportation of the charged particles along the length of the channel is provided by transposition of the at least two of said maxima of the pseudopotential such that the at least two of said maxima are caused to travel with time along the channel, at least within a certain interval of time and at least within a part of the length of the channel, wherein the supply voltages are high-frequency voltages synthesised using a digital method; wherein the channel is filled with a buffer gas and the pressure of the buffer gas varies along the length of the channel, so that injection of charged particles into the device at an inlet of the device takes place at a higher pressure as compared with an outlet of the device; wherein the device is configured to transport the charged particles to a low pressure region of the channel in which the pressure is less than 5×10−3 mbar; wherein in the process of transportation of the charged particles, equalisation of kinetic energies of charged particles occurs due to collisions and energy exchange between charged particles and buffer gas molecules.