Sandia National Laboratories
An electrospray upgrade built around an existing instrument
An existing instrument can become a more capable research platform when the inlet is designed around the experiment, rather than the other way around.
The challenge
Sandia National Laboratories approached Ardara to retrofit the electrospray inlet of an existing instrument. The replacement needed to deliver ions efficiently while interfacing with the downstream ion optics already in place.
The engineering
Working with the research team, Ardara developed an atmospheric-pressure inlet incorporating a heated transfer capillary, an ion funnel, a split-flow chamber and a custom-length ion guide matched to the existing instrument.
The reported result
After two to three months of operation, the customer reported routinely observing ion signals 10–20 times greater than before. They also reported a corresponding increase in UV photofragment-ion signals used in spectroscopy experiments, improving spectral quality and extending the experiments they could pursue.
This result describes the customer’s particular instrument and operating conditions. It is not a general sensitivity specification or a guarantee for other configurations.
What this enables
A custom inlet can preserve valuable downstream hardware while adapting ion production and transport to a new level of experimental demand.