How a mass spectrometer works?

An outline of what happens in a mass spectrometer

Atoms can be deflected by magnetic fields - provided the atom is first turned into an ion. Electrically charged particles are affected by a magnetic field although electrically neutral ones aren't.

The sequence is :
Stage 1: Ionisation
The atom is ionised by knocking one or more electrons off to give a positive ion. This is true even for things which you would normally expect to form negative ions (chlorine, for example) or never form ions at all (argon, for example). Mass spectrometers always work with positive ions.
Stage 2: Acceleration
The ions are accelerated so that they all have the same kinetic energy.
Stage 3: Deflection
The ions are then deflected by a magnetic field according to their masses. The lighter they are, the more they are deflected. The amount of deflection also depends on the number of positive charges on the ion - in other words, on how many electrons were knocked off in the first stage. The more the ion is charged, the more it gets deflected.
Stage 4: Detection
The beam of ions passing through the machine is detected electrically.

A full diagram of a mass spectrometer

Understanding what's going on

The need for a vacuum
It's important that the ions produced in the ionisation chamber have a free run through the machine without hitting air molecules.

Ionisation

The vaporised sample passes into the ionisation chamber. The electrically heated metal coil gives off electrons which are attracted to the electron trap which is a positively charged plate. The particles in the sample (atoms or molecules) are therefore bombarded with a stream of electrons, and some of the collisions are energetic enough to knock one or more electrons out of the sample particles to make positive ions. Most of the positive ions formed will carry a charge of +1 because it is much more difficult to remove further electrons from an already positive ion. These positive ions are persuaded out into the rest of the machine by the ion repeller which is another metal plate carrying a slight positive charge.

Acceleration

The positive ions are repelled away from the very positive ionisation chamber and pass through three slits, the final one of which is at 0 volts. The middle slit carries some intermediate voltage. All the ions are accelerated into a finely focused beam.

Deflection

Only ion stream B makes it right through the machine to the ion detector. The other ions collide with the walls where they will pick up electrons and be neutralised. Eventually, they get removed from the mass spectrometer by the vacuum pump.

When an ion hits the metal box, its charge is neutralised by an electron jumping from the metal on to the ion (right hand diagram). That leaves a space amongst the electrons in the metal, and the electrons in the wire shuffle along to fill it. A flow of electrons in the wire is detected as an electric current which can be amplified and recorded. The more ions arriving, the greater the current.

Detecting the other ions

How might the other ions be detected - those in streams A and C which have been lost in the machine?
Remember that stream A was most deflected - it has the smallest value of m/z (the lightest ions if the charge is 1+). To bring them on to the detector, you would need to deflect them less - by using a smaller magnetic field (a smaller sideways force).
To bring those with a larger m/z value (the heavier ions if the charge is +1) on to the detector you would have to deflect them more by using a larger magnetic field.
If you vary the magnetic field, you can bring each ion stream in turn on to the detector to produce a current which is proportional to the number of ions arriving. The mass of each ion being detected is related to the size of the magnetic field used to bring it on to the detector. The machine can be calibrated to record current (which is a measure of the number of ions) against m/z directly. The mass is measured on the 12C scale.