An ion optical element that may be used as an ion guide in a mass spectrometer, as a reflectron in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer, as an ion mobility drift tube in an ion mobility spectrometer, or as a collision cell or reaction cell in a mass spectrometer. The ion optical element has an inner tube made of a first ceramic material within an outer ceramic tube made of a second ceramic material. The electrical resistivity of the second ceramic material is two orders of magnitude or more higher than the electrical resistivity of the first ceramic material. In certain embodiments, the thermal conductivity of the second ceramic material is at least about an order of magnitude higher than the thermal conductivity of the first ceramic material.