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Superconductivity for Mass Spectroscopy
23
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0
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2007
Year
Superconducting MaterialEngineeringBiological Mass SpectrometryMolecular BiologyBioanalysisSuperconductivityAnalytical ChemistryProteomicsConventional Ion DetectorsSuperconducting DevicesBiophysicsMass SpectroscopyHigh-tc SuperconductivityPhysicsBiochemistryTime-of-flight Mass SpectroscopyIon MobilityMolecule WeightHigh-temperature SuperconductivitySpectroscopyNatural SciencesApplied PhysicsCondensed Matter PhysicsMass SpectrometryNative Mass SpectrometryMolecular Fragmentation
Time-of-Flight Mass Spectroscopy (TOF-MS) with superconducting detectors has two advantages over MS with conventional ion detectors. First, it is coverage for a very wide range of molecule weight over 1,000,000. Secondly, kinetic energies of accelerated molecules can be measured at impact events one by one. These unique features enable an ultimate detection efficiency of 100% for intact ions and a fragmentation analysis that is critical for top-down proteomics. Superconducting MS is expected to play a role in, for example, the detection of antigen-antibody complexes, which are important for medical diagnosis. In this paper, how superconductivity contributes to MS is described.