Patent ID: 7825374

Claim:
A tandem mass spectrometer, comprising: a linear time-of-flight mass analyzer having a field-free drift region; a curved-field reflectron mass analyzer disposed at an end of the linear time-of-flight mass analyzer such that ions having a plurality of ion masses when formed in the linear time-of-flight analyzer enter the curved-field reflectron mass analyzer, wherein the curved-field reflectron comprises a drift region and a non-linear field region defined by a series of lens elements; a mass selection gate disposed between the linear time-of-flight mass analyzer and the curved-field reflectron mass analyzer, the mass selection gate being located in the field-free drift region, upstream of the non-linear field region, said mass selection gate operable to select an ion mass from said plurality of ion masses; and a dissociating component located in a path of the ions formed in the linear time-of-flight analyzer, wherein said dissociating component causes dissociation of said ions into a plurality of ion fragments.