Categories of exhibits
MALDI - laser beam spiltter
Exhibit no. 952
The pulsed lasers used for MALDI make it an ideal technique for coupling with TOF mass spectrometry since there is a precisely defined time of ion generation. To trigger the time measurement, a fraction of the laser light is directed to a photodiode, which converts light into an electrical current. The triggering signal is taken on the rising edge of the laser light pulse. For typical nanosecond lasers used in MALDI, the accuracy of the trigger is often in the tens of picoseconds.
The exhibits are beam splitters from a Reflex IV MALDI TOF mass spectrometer manufactured by Bruker Daltonics in the 2000s. The laser system of this instrument consisted of a pulsed nitrogen laser (337 nm, 3 ns pulse width), an attenuator for laser power adjustment, beam splitters for directing a fraction of laser light to the photodiode, a lens system for focusing the laser beam and a mirror for directing the beam on the target. The splitter is a half-silvered mirror made of an optical substrate with a partially transparent thin metal coating.
Wikipedia: Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization
