Ion Guides and Drift Tubes

Electric fields preferentially attract or direct ions

Made from our patented resistive glass technology, these tubes effectively alter the ion flow in Ion Mobility Spectrometry.

Our ion guides and drift tubes are designed to control the ion flow into analytical instruments in order to complete the most accurate analysis possible. These one-piece, solid assemblies are used in ion mobility spectrometry for counter-flow gas, eliminating the need additional enclosure. Similar to our reflectron lenses, our ion guides are easy to clean and maintain. Ion guides and drift tubes can be manufactured in variety of sizes, with an inner diameter as small as .5 mm.

In the image below, you can see how by using a resistive glass drift tube from Photonis greatly enhance ion flow. The electric field in the resistive glass prevents collisions with other ions and tube walls which may result in ion loss.

Photonis also manufactures varied, non-linear monolithic resistive glass tubes, which enables instrument designers to produce non-linear and dynamic fields within the lens for better performance. Axial lines can be applied for use as collision cells, while rings can be applied for use as a segmented reflectron lens as seen in the image below.