Spatial and Temporal Distributions of Large Molecules in Plumes Generated by Laser Desorption

Abstract

To understand the laser desorption process for large molecules, one needs information about the neutral species that are formed. For absorbing dye molecules, this can be accomplished by imaging the plume over its lifetime of a few milliseconds with a probe laser. Using this novel technique, we have investigated the dependence of the formation of neutral gas-phase dye molecules on vaporization laser power. It is clear that destruction of the chromophore (fragmentation) occurs even at low vaporization powers.