Patent ID: 8110796

Claim:
A mass spectrometry system for controlling fragmentation and ion production from a sample, the system comprising: a pulsed laser source; a polarizer capable of plane polarizing radiation from the laser source and rotating the angle of plane polarized radiation from the laser source between an angle of s-polarized radiation and an angle of p-polarized radiation; an array for receiving the sample, the array being made from a semiconductor material and having quasi-periodic columnar structures; and a mass spectrometer for detecting ions formed from the sample; wherein when the radiation from the pulsed laser source is rotated so that when the angle of the plane polarization of the laser source approaches the angle of p-polarized radiation, the fragmentation and ion production from the sample is increased, and when the angle of the plane polarization of the laser source approaches the angle of s-polarized radiation, the fragmentation and ion production from the sample is decreased.