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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Proteomics. 2016 Aug 24;16(18):2435–2443. doi: 10.1002/pmic.201600113

Figure 2. Axial and radial motion of ions in the optic path.

Figure 2

AC applied to each optic serves to confine ion packets radially. That is, the AC supplies a counterforce that keeps ions within the radial boundaries of the optical path, much like ink is encased within the narrow tube of a pen. In the optics, DC offsets from optic to optic provide the force to keep ions moving in the axial dimension, which refers to the path of the ion (the longitudinal axis of the pen, in the previous analogy). In traps, we will see that DC can be used for axial confinement in a potential well.