LINEAR SEGMENTED QUADRUPOLE TRAP

The invention relates to a linear segmented quadrupole trap meant for the levitation, handling or selective extraction of electrically-charged particles of micrometric or nanometric sizes. According to the invention, the trap consists of an electrode system comprising four parallel and equidistant metal bars, two of them being disposed in a vertical plane, and the other two being disposed in a horizontal plane, and also two supplemental lid-electrodes, placed at the ends of the electrode system and in the extension thereof, at a certain distance, each of them consisting of four parallel and equidistant metal bars, in one embodiment, or of a cylindrical hollow metal tube, coaxial with the longitudinal axis of the trap, in another embodiment thereof. The thus made trap operates in air, in standard conditions of temperature and pressure (STP). The electrode system of the trap is supplied with alternating current in order to generate the storage field, and with direct current. The segmented geometry of the trap allows it to use several variants of electrical supply, which facilitates the handling and selective extraction of electrically-charged particles and the operation of the apparatus as a mass spectrometer.