Studies of explosives by field asymmetric IMS

sample injector 2, thermostat 3, multi-capillary column 4, ionization chamber 5, 63Ni source of beta radiation 6, field inlet 7, separation chamber 8, electrodes 9, drift voltage generator 10, electrometer and 

In an article on drift tubes of comparatively large size and a cylindrical geometry [54], Buryakov and Kolomiets combined a multi-capillary column [55,56] with the analyzer to obtain measurements and quantitative response curves with a GC-DMS configuration. 

The gas chromatograph as inlet (Fig. 12(b)) permitted reliable delivery of amounts of explosives to the analyzer, and limits of detection were reported as 2pg for TNT and 4 pg for PETN. The measurements were comparatively fast with most explosives eluted in times below several minutes, some as low as 9 s (for DNT) and none more than 4 min (for PETN). These early findings with field-dependent mobility instrumentation suggested that the favorable chemistry of IMS could be combined with the simple instrumentation of FAIMS or DMS and that the strong electric fields show no ill effect on gas-phase ions for explosives. The next step in development with field-dependent mobility instruments was a micro-fabricated DMS analyzer. 

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