MODIFICATION OF WILEY-MCLAREN TOF ANALYZERS FOR LASER DESORPTION.

Conversion of Wiley-McLaren Type TOF instruments for laser desorption is described, including laser optics, timing circuitry, postacceleration detection for high mass and data acquisition. Results are shown to illustrate signal averaging capabilities, detection limits and high mass measurements. It is shown that as with all time-of-flight instruments, sensitivity is improved by the high ion transmission of the analyzer and the ability to observe all ions (of every mass) from a single desorption event. As improvements in resolution for time of flight instruments progress and larger mass ranges are explored, the use of this analyzer will continue to increase.