Patent ID: 7928361

Claim:
A particle detection system comprising: (a) a mass analyzer; (b) at least two independent particle detectors, each of said detectors being positioned so as to be physically separated in space, wherein at least two of said independent detectors are controlled independently such that a gain of one of the two detectors is adjustable independent of a gain of the other detector, wherein each of the detectors comprises an electron multiplier, the gain of each detector being controlled by varying a voltage applied to the electron multiplier of the corresponding detector independent of the voltage applied to electron multipliers of other detectors thereby improving resolving power, signal-to-noise, or dynamic range of the detection system relative to the system in which the gains of the two detectors are not independently adjustable; wherein each of said two independent particle detectors is configured to detect ions comprising a portion of a sample population of ions following mass analysis of said sample population of ions by said mass analyzer, whereby each of said particle detectors in said mass analyzer is configured to detect ions of more than one mass-to-charge value, such that said mass analysis is performed essentially identically by said mass analyzer for each said portion of said sample population of ions, wherein any of said portions may include a plurality of ions of one or more ion species, wherein said portions are directed by said mass analyzer to said detectors, respectively, such that at least one mass-to-charge value is detectable essentially simultaneously by each of said at least two detectors, and whereby at least one output signal is produced by each of said detectors upon impingement of said ions on said detectors; and (c) at least one signal recorder, whereby said output signals are recorded.