The sensitivity of laser-induced fluorescence detection in capillary electr
ophoresis is generally Limited by noise due to scattering of the excitation
beam on the capillary walls. The highest sensitivities have been obtained
with post-capillary detection in a sheath-flow cuvette. In this paper, we r
eport a new method for post-capillary detection, avoiding the hydrodynamic
buffer flow at the capillary outlet. In our detection scheme, the analytes
coming out of the individual capillaries are kept well separated from their
neighbours in the outlet detection chamber because of an adequate electric
field surrounding the capillary extremities. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V
. All rights reserved.