ABSTRACT
A drift tube is the central component in making measurements by ion mobility methods and is supported by other components, including power supplies, heaters, ion shutter controllers, gas §ows, and detector electronics. Every mobility analyzer of every mobility method will share some or all of the generic designs shown in Figure 6.1, in which the drift tube is dened further as an ion source and reaction region (Chapter 4), a drift (or mobility) region, and a detector (Chapter 7). A rich variety of designs, materials, ion sources, and drift tubes exists today and is supplemented though new methods of mobility measurements. The purpose of this chapter is to present the principles and technology used for obtaining ion mobility spectra in both traditional and emerging mobility methods.
