The basic principles and experimental results of laser-induced acousti
c desorption (LIAD) are reported in this work. LIAD was successfully u
sed to desorb biomolecules in a mass spectrometer. LIAD holds some pro
mise to eliminate many key factors which contribute to poor mass resol
ution in MALDI. Thus, it has potential for improvement in resolution o
f biomolecular mass analysis. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.