Electro-optics manufacturer Photonis USA received a European patent for the manufacture of an ion mobility spectrometer built using resistive glass technology. Resistive glass creates an electric field to guide or direct charged particles and consists of alkali-doped lead silicate glass that has been reduced to make the surface a semiconductor. It can be used to manufacture capillary inlet and drift tubes, ion guides and other component parts found in most mass spectrometers. The increased ion transfer results in a six- to tenfold increase in ion transmission into the mass spectrometer. The patent allows the company to expand into markets and applications that require rapid nondestructive analysis of solid and liquid samples such as homeland security, pharmaceutical analysis, metabolomics, food analysis, counterfeit detection and process monitoring. Photonis previously received US patents for the instrument as well as for other specific products made with the specialty glass. For more information, visit: www.photonis.com