On the theory of an Omegatron with asymmetric three-dimensional electric fields: Ion trajectories and resonance peak shapes

The theory and modeling of an Omegatron, an instrument exploiting the cyclotron resonance principle for various laboratory measurements, is revisited. A general model for the ion motion in the instrument is developed to compute expected resonance peak shapes. In order to numerically integrate the equation of ion motion, the actual three-dimensional electric field in which the ions move is computed. With this model, the influence of various parameters on the shape of the resonance peaks is studied, and the theoretical findings are compared with experimental results. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.