Recommendations for reporting ion mobility Mass Spectrometry measurements

Here we present a guide to ion mobility mass spectrometry experiments, which covers both linear and nonlinear methods: what is measured, how the measurements are done, and how to report the results, including the uncertainties of mobility and collision cross section values. The guide aims to clarify some possibly confusing concepts, and the reporting recommendations should help researchers, authors and reviewers to contribute comprehensive reports, so that the ion mobility data can be reused more confidently. Starting from the concept of the definition of the measurand, we emphasize that (i) mobility values (K0) depend intrinsically on ion structure, the nature of the bath gas, temperature, and E/N; (ii) ion mobility does not measure molecular surfaces directly, but collision cross section (CCS) values are derived from mobility values using a physical model; (iii) methods relying on calibration are empirical (and thus may provide method‐dependent results) only if the gas nature, temperature or E/N cannot match those of the primary method. Our analysis highlights the urgency of a community effort toward establishing primary standards and reference materials for ion mobility, and provides recommendations to do so. © 2019 The Authors. Mass Spectrometry Reviews Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Soft-landing deposition of radioactive probe atoms on surfaces

We present a method to deposit a wide range of radioactive probe atoms on surfaces, without introducing lattice damage or contaminating the surface with other elements or isotopes. In this method, the probe atoms are mass-separated using an isotope separa-tor, decelerated to 5 eV, and directly deposited on the surface. The method allows for performing hyperfine interactions experiments using trace amounts of radioactive probes located at surfaces and interfaces. The characteristics of the deposition method will be described, with particular attention to the deceleration stage of the isotope separator. The method was tested with perturbed angular correlation (PAC) experiments on the system In on Cu(17,1,1). The results are in agreement with molecular dynamics simulations of the deposition process. New developments, in particular the study of the self-diffusion of Ag atoms on Ag(100) by means of PAC with the Ag-111 probe, are briefly discussed

Soft-landing ion deposition of isolated radioactive probe atoms on surfaces: A novel method

We present a method to deposit a wide range of radioactive probe atoms on surfaces, without introducing lattice damage or contaminating the surface with other elements or isotopes. In this method, the probe atoms are mass separated using an isotope separator, decelerated to 5 eV, and directly deposited on the surface. The method allows for performing hyperfine interactions experiments using trace amounts of radioactive probes located at surfaces and interfaces. The characteristics of the deposition method were studied by performing perturbed angular correlation experiments on the system In on Cu(17,1,1). The results are in agreement with molecular dynamics simulations of the deposition process. The potential of this novel technique is briefly discussed