| Mass spectrometry is a technique that has been developing for over a century. In this long history it has developed from a technique which could measure the mass to charge ratio of electrons and protons to biologically relevant protein complexes and viruses. This has been accomplished through the development of new ion sources, mass measurement techniques, and signal detectors. While the advancement of ion sources, and in particular the method of electrospray ionization, has allowed ever larger molecules to be ionized and put into the gas phase, issues such as molecular heterogeneity, sample impurities, and multiple high charge state species cause issues with the current methods and detectors which to separate ions based upon mass to charge. In this thesis a newer approach is pursued to simultaneously measure the charge and mass to charge of a series of individual ions to avoid the issues raised by previous methods.;The concept of detecting the charge and mass to charge of ions through charge detection mass spectrometry is not a new concept; it has been around for at least two decades. A series of systems are developed with increasing numbers of charge detectors in series. One primary characteristic of every system analyzed in this thesis is some degree of independence in the measurement from the initial ion velocity and energy state. A total of four systems were constructed to demonstrate the potential for charge detection mass spectrometry. The systems included a 2 detector setup with a voltage ramp which allowed thousands of volts to be applied to measure very heavy objects and 3 systems which utilized charge detectors that were floated at nonground potential. These later systems allowed the measurement of protein and polymer complexes that were previously one to two orders of magnitude lower in mass and charge than previously reported attempts with charge detection mass spectrometry. Finally, a general method for predicting performance of a generic charge detector system is proposed to determine what ultimate levels of performance can be achieved with this approach. |
