Ultra-sensitive atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry

In various applications trace gas concentrations in the ppt-range need to be detected in less than a second. Due to an increasing number of contaminants present at ppt-levels ultra-high sensitivity also requires excellent selectivity. Our approach to achieve this combination is to push highly selective mass spectrometer (MS) towards extreme sensitivities by coupling atmospheric pressure ionization sources (API) to time-of-flight mass spectrometers (ToF-MS). For example, a radioactive Tritium (³H) ionization source coupled to a Bruker micrOTOF II leading to ppq detection for protonated Acetone.