Abstract: Mass spectrometry with lasers generates ions from analyte molecules by matrix assisted laser desorption for a variety of different mass spectrometric analysis procedures. The mass spectrometers with laser systems supply laser light pulses having at least two different pulse durations, and mass spectrometric measuring techniques use the laser light pulses of different durations. The duration of the laser light pulses allows the characteristics of the ionization of the analyte molecules, particularly the occurrence of the ISD (in-source decay) and PSD (post-source decay) types of fragmentation, whose fragment ion spectra supply different kinds of information, to be adapted to the analytic procedure.

Abstract: An ion source generating ions by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) comprising a MALDI sample support and a solid-state the laser system generating a pulsed laser beam, which has a wavelength in the range between 332 and 342 nanometers and is spatially shaped in the solid-state laser system such that the spatial intensity distribution of the laser beam on the MALDI sample support exhibits more than one intensity peak.

Abstract: The invention relates to a laser system for the ionization of a sample by matrix-assisted laser desorption in mass spectrometric analysis. The invention consists in providing an adjustable laser system which, in one setting, generates a single intensity peak on the sample and, in another setting, a multiplicity of intensity peaks, with the half-width, intensity, spatial arrangement and/or degree of spatial modulation of the single intensity peak and/or the intensity peaks being adjustable.

Abstract: The invention relates to a laser system for the ionization of a sample by matrix-assisted laser desorption in mass spectrometric analysis. The invention consists in providing a laser system which generates a spatially modulated intensity distribution with intensity spots on the sample, which significantly improves the quality and the robustness of the mass spectrometric analysis compared with a spatially homogeneous intensity distribution and, in particular, improves the ionization efficiency and, for a time-of-flight mass spectrometer with axial injection, the mass resolution and the signal-to-noise ratio.