Lasers
HeNe | CO₂ | Argon Ion | Excimer

Using and getting experience with mass spectrometry is a valuable tool in that it can be applied in so many ways. The first example that comes to mind is forensics, mass spectrometry is used to identify unknown substances. A small portion of gas (in the case of our system at Niagara College) is charged and passed through a magnetic field. The particles strike the detector, and more importantly they will strike the detector at different places based on their atomic mass. A diagram of how a basic mass spectrometer works is shown below.

Source: http://www.chem.ucalgary.ca/courses/351/Carey/Ch13/ch13-ms.html

Below is a diagram of how the RGA works in our lab, this is a Quadrupole RGA and works a bit differently. The Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer works by accelerating ions at a known trajectory, this is done by accelerating them through an electrostatic field. The basic design consists of four parallel hyperbolic rods. One pair of rods are applied a DC and RF voltage, and the other the same voltage except with a 180 degree phase shift. Resonant ions will pass through to the detectors, and nonresonant ions will be deflected out of the system. A diagram of this setup is shown below.

Source: http://elchem.kaist.ac.kr/vt/chem-ed/ms/quadrupo.htm

Pictures of the system at the Niagara College facilities Spectroscopy lab can be found in the Turbo Pump section of my Resume website.

Below are some images of the graphs that the RGA produces; they are labeled respectively. If you have any questions on this technology, or would like any further explanation of the graphs shown below please e-mail me.

This is a 'reference trace' which is done before any results are taken to identify what is in the system to start with

This is a trace of regular Air in the Niagara Region; notice the huge peak at 28, this is the nitrogen content in the air (about 80%)

This is a trace of CO₂ gas

This is a trace of Neon gas