Patent ID: 7504621

Claim:
A method of analyzing a sample, the method comprising: producing a source beam of analyte ions from the sample; by the steps of deflecting and pulsing, generating from the source beam a plurality of offset beams, each offset beam comprised of packets of analyte ions over at least a portion of their extent thereof, the step of pulsing to generate the packets of analyte ions from either the source beam or from each of the plurality of offset beams, the packets of analyte ions generated at a select frequency so that for each of the offset beams the ions from one of the packets of analyte ions do not overlap with the ions from adjacent packets of analyte ions in the same offset beam; wherein the steps of deflecting and pulsing generates the plurality of offset beams of packets of analyte ions so that each beam is distinct from each other and the beams of packets of analyte ions are offset from each other in both time and space; detecting the packets of analyte ions of each of the offset beams in a detection region; and performing a mass analysis of the sample based on the detected packets of analyte ions.