Patent ID: 8648294

Claim:
A mass spectrometry apparatus for analyzing mass spectral data associated with a particle, comprising: an ionization laser to produce a deionization laser beam; a particle beam path that receives aerosol particles and intersects the ionization laser beam at a location where aerosol particles are desorbed and ionized by the laser beam; an ion extractor located at or near the ionization location to separate positive ions and negative ions desorbed from the aerosol particles and to direct the positive ions along a first direction of an ion path and the negative ions along a second, opposite direction of the ion path; a first reflectron located at a first side of the ion extractor, in the ion path, to reflect the positive ions along a first reflection path that deviates from the ion path; a second reflectron located at a second, opposite side of the ion extractor, in the ion path, to reflect the negative ions along a second reflection path that deviates from the ion path and that is located in a side of the ion path that is opposite the first reflection path; a first ion detector located in the first reflection path, to receive and detect the positive ions reflected from the first reflectron; and a second ion detector located in the second reflection path, to receive and detect the negative ions reflected from the second reflectron; wherein the ion path connecting the first reflectron, the ion extractor, and the second reflectron, the first reflection path connecting the first reflectron and the first ion detector, and the second reflection path connecting the second reflectron and the second ion detector form a Z-shaped path.