Methods for laser induced ablation spectroscopy (LIBS) are disclosed. Light from laser ablation can be gathered into a lightguide fiber bundle that is subdivided into branches. One branch can convey a first portion of the light to a broadband spectrometer operable to analyze a relatively wide spectral segment, and a different branch can convey a second portion of the light to a high dispersion spectrometer operable to measure minor concentrations and/or trace elements. Emissions can be analyzed using a plurality of spectrometers having distinct and/or complementary capabilities, and with a synergistic method using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

Methods for preparing a biological sample for testing by Maldi where such methods are selected based on sample parameters. Maldi scores are obtained for a range of sample parameters (e.g. McFarland, dispense volume and number of dispenses). From the data, sample preparation parameters can be selected for a biological sample being prepared for Maldi testing. One sample preparation strategy uses multiple dispenses of sample with an intervening drying step, which yields more accurate Maldi scores, particularly for samples at the low range of McFarland values (e.g. below about 2).

Disclosed herein is an apparatus for supplying reagent ions, for example ETD or PTR reagent ions, to a mass spectrometer. The apparatus includes a reagent material reservoir, coupled to a carrier gas supply, which delivers an entrained reagent vapor flow to an inlet of a mixing junction through a first flow restrictor. A control gas flow of carrier gas is delivered to another inlet of the mixing junction via a variable pressure regulator and a second flow restrictor. The outlet of the mixing junction is coupled via a third flow restrictor and a reagent transfer junction to an inlet of an ionizer, such as a glow-discharge ionizer. By dynamic adjustment of the output pressure of the variable pressure regulator, the flow rate of reagent vapor may be controlled over a broad range, even for reagent materials of relatively high volatility.

Technologies for rapid equilibration for water isotope analysis are disclosed. In at least one illustrative embodiment, a vaporizer may include an injection block that defines a chamber and a septum positioned over an inlet of the chamber to seal the chamber. The chamber may be configured to be fluidly coupled to a pump to develop a vacuum within the chamber, and the septum may be configured to receive a needle that is inserted into the chamber. A thermally conductive wool may be positioned within the chamber and may be configured to receive a tip of the needle.

Systems and methods for controllably forming an analyte layer comprising amorphous ice and/or other frozen amorphous solids on a substrate. In an embodiment, the present invention provides simplified systems and methods for the preparation of cryo-EM samples, where the same particle beam, such as an ion beam, is used to deposit the desired analyte onto the substrate as well as to generate the amorphous ice or frozen solid layer on the substrate

Apparatus for laser induced ablation spectroscopy (LIBS) is disclosed. An apparatus can have a computer, a pulsed laser and a lightguide fiber bundle that is subdivided into branches. One branch can convey a first portion of the light to a first optical spectrometer and a different branch can convey a second portion of the light to another optical spectrometer. The first spectrometer can be relatively wideband to analyze a relative wide spectral segment and the other spectrometer can be high dispersion to measure minor concentrations. The apparatus can have a plurality of spectrometers with distinct and/or complementary capabilities, and can include an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer and data and instructions in tangible media operable to obtain a synergistic composition analysis based on optical spectra and ion mass to charge ratio peaks from the mass spectrometer.

Provided is a method for mass spectrometry in which ions to be analyzed are made to come in contact with a cooling gas in a cooling section, such as an ion trap 2, configured to perform the cooling of ions, and kinetic energy is subsequently imparted to the ions so as to introduce the ions into a flight space of a multi-turn time-of-flight mass separator 30 or similar device for separating ions according to their mass-to-charge ratios. According to the present invention, when a known or estimated number of charges of an ion to be analyzed is high, the amount of supply of the cooling gas to the cooling section is set to a lower level than when the number of charges is low. This operation improves the detection sensitivity for ions having large molecular weights and high numbers of charges.

Apparatus, systems and methods disclosed herein utilize an ion source region generally disposed between a sample introduction port and an ion guide of a mass spectrometry system to thermally fragment ions for transmission to and analysis by a downstream mass analyzer. In various aspects, the present disclosure provides methods of thermally fragmenting ions in an ion source region of a mass spectrometry system. Thermally fragmenting a plurality of ions can include increasing a temperature of the ions present in an ion source region. Thermally fragmenting a plurality of ions can include increasing the temperature of the ions in an ionization/fragmentation region associated with an ion source region defined by a substantially collision-free path. Implementations of the present disclosure are useful in mass spectrometry systems, including, for example, generating an enhanced fragmentation pattern.

Methods for preparing a biological sample for testing by Maldi where such methods are selected based on sample parameters. Maldi scores are obtained for a range of sample parameters (e.g. McFarland, dispense volume and number of dispenses). From the data, sample preparation parameters can be selected for a biological sample being prepared for Maldi testing. One sample preparation strategy uses multiple dispenses of sample with an intervening drying step, which yields more accurate Maldi scores, particularly for samples at the low range of McFarland values (e.g. below about 2).

The disclosure provides a thermal desorption (TD) tube sampler. The sampler comprises a first connector configured to reversibly connect to a TD tube containing a sample, and a second connector configured to couple to a direct injection mass spectrometer. The TD tube sampler is configured to desorb a sample in a TD tube connected thereto, and feed the desorbed sample from the TD tube to a direct injection mass spectrometer such that the desorbed sample does not pass through a cold trap.