Multidimensional Ion Mobility Spectrometer (US7,576,321)

Multidimensional IMS orthogonally connects multiple high resolution drift tubes, substantially increasing resolving power and peak capacity of the IMS system; it allows a broad range of chemical and biological samples to be separated and detected in a single ion mobility scan. In a Multidimensional IMS device, the ions undergo conventional IMS separation in the first dimension drift tube and then the ions that have already been separated are extracted to a higher dimension and further separated and detected. Thus, the unresolved ion mobility peaks in one dimension can be identified in a higher dimension drift tube. Additionally, the drift gas in a higher dimension drift tube can be modified or changed completely to allow for separation under different conditions, improving the reliability of the analysis. The multidimensional IMS system can effectively ionize different classes of chemicals, identifying the chemicals based on their ion mobility and confirming the first measurement based on the higher dimension measurement. Resembling tandem chromatographs and mass spectrometers, the multidimensional IMS system could significantly reduce false identification in many field analytical applications.