Absorption mode Fourier transform electrostatic linear ion trap mass spectrometry

Abstract

In Fourier transform mass spectrometry, it is well-known that plotting the spectrum in absorption mode rather than magnitude mode has several advantages. However, magnitude spectra remain commonplace due to difficulties associated with determining the phase of each frequency at the onset of data acquisition, which is required for generating absorption spectra. The phasing problem for electrostatic traps is much simpler than for Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) instruments, which greatly simplifies the generation of absorption spectra. Here, we present a simple method for generating absorption spectra from a Fourier transform electrostatic linear ion trap mass spectrometer. The method involves time shifting the data prior to Fourier transformation in order to synchronize the onset of data acquisition with the moment of ion acceleration into the electrostatic trap. Under these conditions, the initial phase of each frequency at the onset of data acquisition is zero. We demonstrate that absorption mode provides a 1.7-fold increase in resolution (full width at half maximum, fwhm) as well as reduced peak tailing. We also discuss methodology that may be applied to unsynchronized data in order to determine the time shift required to generate an absorption spectrum.