Time-of-flight mass spectrometry-most notably matrix-assisted laser-desorption-ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) spectrometry-is an important class of techniques for the study of proteins and other biomolecules. Although these techniques provide excellent performance for masses up to about 20,000 daltons, there has been limited success in achieving good mass resolution at higher masses. This is because the sensitivity of the microchannel plate (MCP) detectors used in most systems decreases rapidly with increasing particle mass, limiting the utility of MCP detectors for very large masses. It has recently been proposed that cryogenic particle detectors may provide a solution to these difficulties. Cryogenic detectors measure the thermal energy deposited by the particle impact, and thus have a sensitivity that is largely independent of particle mass. Recent experiments have demonstrated the sensitivity of cryogenic particle detectors to single biomolecules, a quantum efficiency several orders of magnitude larger than the MCP detectors, and sensitivity to masses as large as 750,000 daltons. Here we present results demonstrating an order of magnitude better energy resolution than previous measurements, allowing direct determination of particle charge state during acceleration. Although application of these detectors to practical mass spectrometry will require further development of the detectors and cryogenics, these detectors can be used to elucidate the performance-limiting processes that occur in such systems.

Macromolecules with masses up to 50 kDa have been detected with a cryogenic particle detector in a MALDI time-of-flight biopolymer mass spectrometer. The cryogenic particle detector was a Sn/Sn-ox/Sn tunnel junction operated at a temperature of 0.4 K. A calibration with 6 keV single photons inferred that the delayed detector pulses corresponded to the absorption of the kinetic energy of a single macromolecule. Time-of-flight spectra of lysozyme proteins are presented. The mass resolution is 100 Da at 14 300 Da. The energy sensitive detection mechanism suggests that cryogenic particle detectors have a high and mass independent detection efficiency for macromolecules.

A review of cryogenic particle detectors is presented. A major motivation for developing this type of particle detector is their superior sensitivity to weakly ionizing particle interactions. This makes them suitable devices for detecting solar neutrinos via the coherent neutrino scattering off nuclei and for detecting non-baryonic dark matter candidates in our galactic halo. Cryogenic particle detectors have reached, and in some cases already surpassed, the high energy resolution of the best semiconducting detectors, and they have the potential of becoming the next generation of high-resolution detectors. The emphasis of this review is on the basic condensed matter physics of these low-temperature detectors and to present an overview of the present experimental status.

Experimental results from equimolar PEG and protein standards samples are presented from a MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer equipped with both ionizing detectors and the novel single molecule sensitive cryodetectors. The data are consistent with a model hypothesis suggesting that the observed decrease in signal strength in conventional ionizing detector MALDI-TOF mass spectrometers can be explained by the exponentially decreasing quantum efficiency of ionizing detectors. Cryodetectors, in contrast, have a mass independent detection efficiency of 100% on impact and provide additional information on the molecule state owing to the calorimetric nature of the detection mechanism.

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