Femtosecond laser induced ionisation and fragmentation of amino acids and DNA bases

Studies of femtosecond laser interactions with amino acids and DNA bases will be presented. Volatilisation of samples via a novel desorption technique has been used to prepare gas-phase biomolecular targets for ionisation and fragmentation by a femtosecond laser. A clear dependence of ion mass spectra and fragment ratios upon laser parameters is exhibited.