The trapping condition and a new instability of the ion motion in the ion cyclotron resonance trap

Abstract In analogy to the critical mass, m crit , a critical voltage, U crit , (and a general trapping parameter, π trap ) is defined, above which the ion motion in an ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) trap is unstable and the ions are lost from the trap. The theoretical values for the critical voltage are confirmed by experimental results. Singly charged gold cluster ions, Au n − , of several sizes, n = 50, 60, 76, 100, 110, and 145 (the latter corresponding to an ion mass of 28 560 u), were injected into an ICR trap, stored, and detected by axial ejection and single ion counting using a microchannel plate detector. During the storage period the trapping voltage, U , was varied for extended d…