  Trapping of microparticles, nanoparticles and aerosols is an issue of major
interest for physics and chemistry. We present a setup intended for
microparticle trapping in multipole linear Paul trap geometries, operating
under Standard Ambient Temperature and Pressure (SATP) conditions. A
16-electrode linear trap geometry has been designed and tested, with an aim to
confine a larger number of particles with respect to quadrupole traps and thus
enhance the signal to noise ratio, as well as to study microparticle dynamical
stability in electrodynamic fields. Experimental tests and numerical
simulations suggest that multipole traps are very suited for high precision
mass spectrometry measurements in case of different microparticle species or to
identify the presence of certain aerosols and polluting agents in the
atmosphere. Particle traps represent versatile tools for environment monitoring
or for the study of many-body Coulomb systems and dusty plasmas.
