Achieving High Resolution Ion Mobility Separations Using Traveling Waves in Compact Multiturn Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations

We report on ion mobility (IM), separations achievable using traveling waves (TW) in a Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations (SLIM), module having a 44 cm path length and 16 90 turns: The performance of the TW-SLIM module was evaluated for ion transmission and IM separations with different RF, TW parameters, and SLIM :surface gaps in conjunction with mass spectrometry. In this work, TWs were created by-the transient and dynamic application of DC potentials. The module demonstrated highly robust performance and, even with 16 closely spaced,turns, achieving IM resolution performance and ion transmission comparable to a similar Straight path modulo. We found an IM peak Capacity of similar to 31 and peak generation rate of 780 s(-1) for TW speeds of similar to 80 m/s, using the current multi-turn TW-SLIM module, The separations achieved for isomers of peptides and tetrasaccharides were found to comparable to those from a similar to 0.9-m drift tube-based IM-MS platform operated :at the same pressure (4 Torr). The combined: attributes of flexible design, low voltage requirements and lossless ion transmission through multiple turns for the present TW SLIM module provides a basis for SLIM devices capable achieving much greater IM resolution via greatly extended ion path lengths and using compact serpentine designs.