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thundara  ·  3172 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: April 27, 2016

It a device that reflects ions through a giant vacuum chamber. The time it takes for those ions to travel through its very controlled electromagnetic field is proportional to their mass-to-charge ratio. So with a metal screen (2nd to last picture in top comment) you can detect how many ions came through and calculate how long it took to see them relative to an initial electromagnetic pulse that flings them through the chamber.