Patent ID: 8916819

Claim:
A method of increasing ion throughput within an accumulator, an energy lift and a pulsed ion source, operated in that order upon a batch of ions, comprising the steps of: (1) loading a batch of ions into the accumulator; (2) changing the electrical potential of the energy lift to raise the potential energy of the batch of ions contained therein; (3) ejecting the batch of ions from the pulsed ion source; and wherein one of the following conditions is satisfied: (i) the energy lift is a separate device from the accumulator and the pulsed ion source, and concurrently with changing the electrical potential in step (2): a fresh batch of ions is loaded into the accumulator and/or a previous batch of ions is prepared for ejection in the pulsed ion source; or (ii) the energy lift is incorporated into the pulsed ion source and concurrently with changing the electrical potential in step (2) a fresh batch of ions is loaded into the accumulator; or (iii) the energy lift is incorporated into the accumulator and concurrently with changing the electrical potential in step (2) a previous batch of ions is prepared for ejection in the pulsed ion source, and wherein the accumulator is operated at a first electrical potential when the batch of ions is loaded into it, and the pulsed ion source is operated at a second potential when it receives ions, and wherein in step (2) the potential of the energy lift is changed by at least 1 kV from a potential at or similar to the first electrical potential to a potential at or similar to the second electrical potential.