Obtaining the one or more sample spectra may comprise directing at least some of the sample into a vacuum chamber of a mass and/or ion mobility spectrometer.
Obtaining the one or more sample spectra may comprise ionising at least some of the sample within a vacuum chamber of a mass and/or ion mobility spectrometer so as to generate a plurality of analyte ions.
Obtaining the one or more sample spectra may comprise causing the sample to impact upon a collision surface located within a vacuum chamber of a mass and/or ion mobility spectrometer so as to generate a plurality of analyte ions.
Obtaining the one or more sample spectra may comprise generating a plurality of analyte ions using ambient ionisation.
Obtaining the one or more sample spectra may comprise generating a plurality of analyte ions in positive ion mode and/or negative ion mode. The mass and/or ion mobility spectrometer may obtain data in negative ion mode only, positive ion mode only, or in both positive and negative ion modes. Positive ion mode spectrometric data may be combined with negative ion mode spectrometric data. Combining the spectrometric data may comprise a concatenation, (e.g., weighted) summation, average, quantile or other statistical property for plural spectra or parts thereof, such as one or more selected peaks. Negative ion mode can provide particularly useful sample spectra for classifying some samples, such as samples from targets comprising lipids.
Obtaining the one or more sample spectra may comprise mass, mass to charge ratio and/or ion mobility analysing a plurality of analyte ions.