Fission fragment ionization mass spectrometry: Metastable decompositions

Abstract

Distorted peak shapes observed in 252Cf fission fragment ionization mass spectrometry using time-of-flight mass spectrometers are shown to result from delayed dissociations of initial ions. Decompositions occurring in the ion acceleration region produce tails on parent or fragment ion peaks, and decompositions occurring with the conversion of internal to kinetic energy in the field-free ion drift region produce broadenings of the parent ion peaks. In this work the various processes have been investigated by the application of appropriate retarding potentials. Examples of the various decomposition processes are given. The magnitudes of the internal energies converted are given for several processes. The application of suitable retarding potentials can be used to suppress decomposition products and enhance resolution and to determine the identities of the decomposition processes.