A COMPACT TURNABLE INFRARED LASER FOR MALDI MS

拟议研究的目标是开发紧凑、廉价和可调谐的红外(IR)激光器，用于基质辅助激光解吸电离(MALDI)质谱仪。MALDI是一种分析大生物分子的强大工具，现在几乎只使用工作在紫外线(UV)波长区域的激光进行。尽管在许多情况下，红外激光在分析高质量DNA分子、极低质量分子、凝胶分离蛋白质、液体基质和组织样品等方面比UV激光具有显著的优势，但它们并不被使用。阻碍MALDI红外激光器广泛使用的主要障碍是现有红外激光器的尺寸、成本和复杂性。OPO是基于KTA(4-氯化钛砷酸钾)晶体，该晶体在IR中具有低吸光度和高损伤阈值。该光学振荡器由1064 nm的基波抽运，调谐范围为2.5~3.5微米。这个范围对于提供OPO和基质分子的振动吸收之间的波长重叠是必要的。建议的商业应用：对用于基质辅助激光解吸电离(MALDI)质谱仪的小型且廉价的红外光源的需求很大。紧凑型IR OPO无论是作为独立的改装单元还是作为新质谱仪的选件，其商业应用包括分析高质量DNA和蛋白质、凝胶分离蛋白质、低分子物种、直接液体导入和冰冻组织切片。

The goal of the proposed research is to develop compact, inexpensive, and tunable infrared (IR) laser for use with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry. MALDI is a powerful tool for the analysis of large biological molecules and is now almost exclusively performed with lasers operating in the ultraviolet (UV) wavelength region. IR lasers are not used even though they offer significant advantages over UV lasers in many situations such as the analysis of high mass DNA molecules, very low mass molecules, gel separated proteins, liquid matrices, and tissue samples. The main impediment to the widespread us of IR lasers for MALDI is the size, cost, and complexity of existing IR lasers. The OPO is based on a KTA (4-potassium titanyl arsenate) crystal that has low absorbance in the IR and high damage threshold. The OPO is pumped by the 1064 nm fundamental wavelength of a Nd:YAG laser and has a tuning range of 2.5 to 3.5 um. This range is necessary to provide wavelength overlap between the OPO and the vibrational absorption of the matrix molecules. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: The need for small and inexpensive IR light sources for matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry is great. Commercial applications for the compact IR OPO either as a stand alone retrofit unit or as an option for new mass spectrometers include analysis of high mass DNA and proteins, gel separated proteins, low molecular weight species, direct liquid introduction and frozen tissue sections.