Time-of-flight mass spectrographs of high mass resolving power

The masses of charged atoms and molecules were first investigated by laterally dispersive sector field mass analyzers, which early on already achieved high mass resolving powers. Equally, high mass resolving powers were achieved by time-of-flight mass analyzers during the last decades. These measurements became possible when fast and precise electronic circuitries became available. Such techniques have been developed and used extensively for the mass analysis of short-lived nuclei, whose mass values reveal insight in processes that describe the formation of elements in star explosions. Precise mass determinations of short-lived ions have been performed for energetic ions in large accelerator storage rings as well as for low-energy ions in time-of-flight mass spectrographs with long flight paths. Similarly, precise mass measurements can also be performed for molecular ions that help to reveal the structure of molecules. In case of very high mass resolving powers, the mass determination of molecular ions can be so high that the measured ion mass directly reveals the molecule's sum formula.