Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance versus time of flight for precision mass measurements

Both Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance and ICR Time-of-Flight mass spectroscopy (FTICR-MS and ICR-TOF-MS, respectively) have been applied to precision atomic mass measurements. This paper reviews the status of these approaches and compares their limitations. Comparisons are made of FTICR-MS and ICR-TOF-MS for application to precision atomic mass measurements of stable and unstable nuclei, where the relevant scale is an accuracy of 1 keV and where halflives are longer than 10 milliseconds (optimistically). The atomic mass table is built up from mass chains, and ICR-MS brings a method of producing new types of mass chains to the mass measurement arena