Quadrupole ion trap

Not to be confused with Quadrupole mass analyzer.

in three or two dimensions. In the two-dimension case (a
A quadrupole ion trap is a type of ion trap that uses so-called linear rf trap), connement in the third direction is provided by static electric elds.

2 Theory
The 3D trap itself generally consists of two hyperbolic
metal electrodes with their foci facing each other and a
hyperbolic ring electrode halfway between the other two
electrodes. The ions are trapped in the space between
these three electrodes by AC (oscillating) and DC (static)
electric elds. The AC radio frequency voltage oscillates
between the two hyperbolic metal end cap electrodes if
ion excitation is desired; the driving AC voltage is applied to the ring electrode. The ions are rst pulled up and
down axially while being pushed in radially. The ions are
then pulled out radially and pushed in axially (from the
top and bottom). In this way the ions move in a complex motion that generally involves the cloud of ions being long and narrow and then short and wide, back and
forth, oscillating between the two states. Since the mid1980s most 3D traps (Paul traps) have used ~1 mtorr of
helium. The use of damping gas and the mass-selective
instability mode developed by Staord et al. led to the
rst commercial 3D ion traps.[5]

Scheme of a Quadrupole ion trap of classical setup with a particle

of positive charge (dark red), surrounded by a cloud of similarly
charged particles (light red). The electric eld E (blue) is generated by a quadrupole of endcaps (a, positive) and a ring electrode
(b). Picture 1 and 2 show two states during an AC cycle.

dynamic electric elds to trap charged particles. They are

also called radio frequency (RF) traps or Paul traps in
honor of Wolfgang Paul, who invented the device[1][2] and
shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1989 for this work.[3]
It is used as a component of a mass spectrometer or a
trapped ion quantum computer.

Overview

A charged particle, such as an atomic or molecular ion,

feels a force from an electric eld. It is not possible to
create a static conguration of electric elds that traps the
charged particle in all three directions (this restriction is
known as Earnshaws theorem). It is possible, however,
to create an average conning force in all three directions
by use of electric elds that change in time. To do so, the
conning and anti-conning directions are switched at a
rate faster than it takes the particle to escape the trap. The
traps are also called radio frequency traps because the
switching rate is often at a radio frequency.
Linear Ion Trap at the University of Calgary

The quadrupole is the simplest electric eld geometry

used in such traps, though more complicated geometries
are possible for specialized devices. The electric elds are
generated from electric potentials on metal electrodes. A
pure quadrupole is created from hyperbolic electrodes,
though cylindrical electrodes are often used for ease of
fabrication. Microfabricated ion traps exist where the
electrodes lie in a plane with the trapping region above
the plane.[4] There are two main classes of traps, depending on whether the oscillating eld provides connement

The quadrupole ion trap has two main congurations:

the three-dimensional form described above and the linear form made of 4 parallel electrodes. A simplied
rectilinear conguration is also used.[6] The advantage of
the linear design is its greater storage capacity (in particular of Doppler-cooled ions) and its simplicity, but this
leaves a particular constraint on its modeling. The Paul
trap is designed to create a saddle-shaped eld to trap a
1

THEORY

charged ion, but with a quadrupole, this saddle-shaped The forces in each dimension are not coupled, thus the
electric eld cannot be rotated about an ion in the centre. force acting on an ion in, for example, the x dimension is
It can only 'ap' the eld up and down. For this reason,
the motions of a single ion in the trap are described by
d2 x

Mathieu Equations, which can only be solved numerically

Fx = ma = m 2 = e
(4)
by computer simulations.
dt
x
The intuitive explanation and lowest order approximation is the same as strong focusing in accelerator physics.
Since the eld aects the acceleration, the position lags
behind (to lowest order by half a period). So the particles
are at defocused positions when the eld is focusing and
vice versa. Being farther from center, they experience a
stronger eld when the eld is focusing than when it is
defocusing.

2.1

Here, is the quadrupolar potential, given by

)
0 ( 2
x + y 2 + z 2
2
r0

(5)

where 0 is the applied electric potential and , ,

and are weighting factors, and r0 is a size parameter constant. In order to satisfy the Laplace Condition,
2 0 = 0 , it can be shown that

Equations of motion

Ions in a quadrupole eld experience restoring forces that

drive them back toward the center of the trap. The motion
of the ions in the eld is described by solutions to the
Mathieu equation.[7] When written for ion motion in a
trap, the equation is

d2 u
+ [au 2qu cos(2)]u = 0
d 2

(1)

++ =0
For an ion trap, = = 1 and = 2 and for a
quadrupole mass lter, = = 1 and = 0 .
Transforming Equation 5 into a cylindrical coordinate
system with x = r cos , y = r sin , and z =
z and applying the pythagorean trigonometric identity
sin2 + cos2 = 1 gives

where u represents the x, y and z coordinates, is a dimensionless parameter given by = t/2 , and au and
qu are dimensionless trapping parameters. The parameter is the radial frequency of the potential applied to the
ring electrode. By using the chain rule, it can be shown
that

d2 u
2 d2 u
=
dt2
4 d 2

(2)

Substituting Equation 2 into the Mathieu Equation 1

yields

4 d2 u
+ [au 2qu cos(t)] u = 0
2 dt2

(3)

Reorganizing terms shows us that

d2 u
2
+
m
[au 2qu cos(t)] u = 0
dt2
4

(3)

By Newtons laws of motion, the above equation represents the force on the ion. This equation can be exactly Diagram of the stability regions of a quadrupole ion trap accordsolved using Floquet theorem or the standard techniques ing to the voltage and frequency applied to the ion trap elements.
of multiple scale analysis.[8] The particle dynamics and
time averaged density of charged particles in a Paul trap
)
can also be obtained by the concept of ponderomotive
0 (
r,z = 2 r2 2z 2 .
(6)
force.
r0

3
The applied electric potential is a combination of RF and
DC given by

0 = U + V cos t.

(7)

where = 2 and is the applied frequency in hertz.

Substituting Equation 7 into Equation 5 with = 1 gives
)
2x (

= 2 U + V cos t .
x
r0

(8)

Substituting Equation 8 into Equation 4 leads to

)
d2 x
2e (
= 2 U + V cos t x.
2
dt
r0

(9)

LTQ (Linear trap quadrupole)

4 Cylindrical ion trap

Comparing terms on the right hand side of Equation 1

and Equation 9 leads to

ax =

8eU
mr02 2

(10)

and

qx =

4eV
.
mr02 2

(11)

Further qx = qy ,
8eU
az = 2 2
mr0

(12)

and

qz =

4eV
.
mr02 2

(13)

Ion traps with a cylindrical rather than a hyperbolic ring

electrode[12][13][14][15][16] have been developed and microfabricated in arrays to develop miniature mass spectrometers for chemical detection in medical diagnosis and
other elds.

5 Combined radio frequency trap

The trapping of ions can be understood in terms of staA Combined radio frequency trap is a combination of
bility regions in qu and au space.
a Paul ion trap and a Penning trap.[17] One of the main
bottlenecks of a QIT is that it can conne only singlecharged species or multiple species with similar masses.
3 Linear ion trap
But in certain applications like antihydrogen production
it is important to conne two species of charged particles
The linear ion trap uses a set of quadrupole rods to conne
of widely varying masses. To achieve this objective, a
ions radially and a static electrical potential on-end elecuniform magnetic eld is added in the axial direction of
trodes to conne the ions axially.[9] The linear form of the
the QIT.
trap can be used as a selective mass lter, or as an actual
trap by creating a potential well for the ions along the axis
of the electrodes.[10] Advantages of the linear trap design are increased ion storage capacity, faster scan times, 6 References
and simplicity of construction (although quadrupole rod
alignment is critical, adding a quality control constraint to [1] Paul W., Steinwedel H. (1953). Ein neues Massentheir production. This constraint is additionally present in
spektrometer ohne Magnetfeld. RZeitschrift fr Naturforschung A 8 (7): 448-450
the machining requirements of the 3D trap).[11]

[2] DE 944900 Verfahren zur Trennung bzw. zum getrennten Nachweis von Ionen verschiedener spezischer
Ladung, W. Paul and H. Steinwedel, led on December
24, 1953, priority December 23, 1953
[3] Wolfgang Paul. Electromagnetic traps for charged and
neutral particles. Rev. Mod. Phys. 62: 531540.
doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.62.531.
[4] S. Seidelin; et al. Microfabricated Surface-Electrode
Ion Trap for Scalable Quantum Information Processing.
Phys.
Rev.
Lett.
96: 253003.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.253003.
[5] Staord, G. C.; P. E. Kelley; J. E. P. Syka; W. E.
Reynolds; J. F. J. Todd (7 September 1984). Recent improvements in and analytical applications of advanced ion
trap technology. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Processes (Elsevier Science B.V.) 60 (1): 85
98. Bibcode:1984IJMSI..60...85S. doi:10.1016/01681176(84)80077-4.
[6] Ouyang Z, Wu G, Song Y, Li H, Plass WR, Cooks
RG (August 2004). Rectilinear ion trap: concepts,
calculations, and analytical performance of a new mass
analyzer.
Anal.
Chem.
76 (16): 4595605.
doi:10.1021/ac049420n. PMID 15307768.
[7] March, Raymond E. (1997).
An Introduction
to Quadrupole Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry.
Journal of Mass Spectrometry 32 (4): 351369.
doi:10.1002/(SICI)1096-9888(199704)32:4<351::AIDJMS512>3.0.CO;2-Y. ISSN 1076-5174.
[8] N. W. McLachlan, Theory and Applications of Mathieu Functions (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1947),
p. 20
[9] Douglas DJ, Frank AJ, Mao D (2005). Linear ion traps
in mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometry reviews 24 (1):
129. doi:10.1002/mas.20004. PMID 15389865.
[10] Quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometry: a view at the turn
of the century, Raymond E. March, International Journal
of Mass Spectrometry 200, 2000, pp.285-312
[11] Schwartz, Jae C.; Michael W. Senko; John E. P. Syka
(June 2002). A two-dimensional quadrupole ion trap
mass spectrometer. Journal of the American Society
for Mass Spectrometry (Elsevier Science B.V.) 13 (6):
659669. doi:10.1016/S1044-0305(02)00384-7. PMID
12056566.
[12] Kornienko, O., Reilly, P.T.A., Whitten W.B., Ramsey,
J.M. (1999). Micro ion trap mass spectrometry. Rapid
Communications in Mass Spectrometry 13 (1): 50-53
[13] Ouyang Z, Badman ER, Cooks RG (1999). Characterization of a serial array of miniature cylindrical ion
trap mass analyzers. Rapid Communications in Mass
Spectrometry 13 (24): 24449. doi:10.1002/(SICI)10970231(19991230)13:24<2444::AID-RCM810>3.0.CO;2F. PMID 10589092.
[14] Patterson GE, Guymon AJ, Riter LS, Everly M, GriepRaming J, Laughlin BC, Ouyang Z, Cooks RG (2002).
Miniature cylindrical ion trap mass spectrometer. Anal.

7 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chem. 74 (24): 614553.

PMID 12510732.

doi:10.1021/ac020494d.

[15] Kanawati B, Wanczek KP (2007). Characterization

of a new open cylindrical ion cyclotron resonance cell
with unusual geometry. The Review of scientic instruments 78 (7): 074102. Bibcode:2007RScI...78g4102K.
doi:10.1063/1.2751100. PMID 17672776.
[16] Cruz D, Chang JP, Fico M, Guymon AJ, Austin DE,
Blain MG (2007). Design, microfabrication, and analysis of micrometer-sized cylindrical ion trap arrays.
The Review of scientic instruments 78 (1): 015107.
Bibcode:2007RScI...78a5107C. doi:10.1063/1.2403840.
PMID 17503946.
[17] J. Walz, S. B. Ross, C. Zimmermann, L. Ricci, M.
Prevedelli and T. W. Hansch (1996). Connement
of electrons and ions in a combined trap with the potential for antihydrogen production. Hyperne Interactions 100: 133. Bibcode:1996HyInt.100..133W.
doi:10.1007/BF02059938.

7 Bibliography
W. Paul Electromagnetic Traps for Charged and
Neutral Particles Taken from Proceedings of the International School of Physics <<Enrico Fermi>>
Course CXVIII Laser Manipulation of Atoms and
Ions, (North Holland, New York, 1992) p. 497517
R.I. Thompson, T.J. Harmon, and M.G. Ball, The
rotating-saddle trap: a mechanical analogy to RFelectric-quadrupole ion trapping? (Canadian Journal
of Physics, 2002: 80 12) p. 14331448
M. Welling, H.A. Schuessler, R.I. Thompson, H.
Walther Ion/Molecule Reactions, Mass Spectrometry
and Optical Spectroscopy in a Linear Ion Trap (International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion
Processes, 1998: 172) p. 95-114.
G. Werth (2005). Charged Particle Traps: Physics
and Techniques of Charged Particle Field Connement (Springer Series on Atomic, Optical, and Plasma
Physics). Berlin: Springer. ISBN 3-540-22043-7.
OCLC 231588573.
John Gillaspy (2001). Trapping Highly Charged
Ions: Fundamentals and Applications. Commack,
N.Y: Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 1-56072-725X. OCLC 42009394.
Todd, John F. J.; March, Raymond E. (2005).
Quadrupole Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry , 2nd Edition. New York: Wiley-Interscience. ISBN 0-47148888-7. OCLC 56413336.
Todd, John F. J.; March, Raymond E. (1995). Practical aspects of ion trap mass spectrometry - Volume I:

5
Fundamentals of Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry. Boca
Raton: CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-4452-2. OCLC
32346425.
Todd, John F. J.; March, Raymond E. (1995). Practical aspects of ion trap mass spectrometry: Ion Trap
Instrumentation, Vol. 2. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
ISBN 0-8493-8253-X. OCLC 32346425.
Todd, John F. J.; March, Raymond E. (1995). Practical aspects of ion trap mass spectrometry, Vol. 3.
Boca Raton: CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-8251-3.
OCLC 32346425.
Hughes, Richard M.; March, Raymond E.; Todd,
John F. J. (1989). Quadrupole storage mass spectrometry. New York: Wiley. ISBN 0-471-85794-7.
OCLC 18290778.
K. Shah and H. Ramachandran, Analytic, nonlinearly exact solutions for an rf conned plasma, Phys.
Plasmas 15, 062303 (2008), http://link.aip.org/link/
?PHPAEN/15/062303/1
Pradip K. Ghosh, Ion Traps, International Series of
Monographs in Physics, Oxford University Press
(1995),
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/
subject/Physics/AtomicMolecularOpticalphysics/
?view=usa&ci=9780198539957

7.1

Patents

DE 944900 Verfahren zur Trennung bzw. zum getrennten Nachweis von Ionen verschiedener spezischer Ladung, W. Paul and H. Steinwedel, led on
December 24, 1953, priority December 23, 1953
GB 773689 Improved arrangements for separating
or separately detecting charged particles of dierent specic charges, W. Paul, claims priority of a
German application led on December 23, 1953
US 2939952 Apparatus for separating charged particles of dierent specic charges, W. Paul and H.
Steinwedel, claims priority of a German application
led on December 23, 1953

External links
Nobel Prize in Physics 1989

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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