Quantum physics: Superconducting Nanowires Detect Single Protein Ions
Date | 4th, Dec 2023 |
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Source | ScienceDaily - General News Websites |
DESCRIPTION
An international research team has achieved a breakthrough in the detection of protein ions: Due to their high energy sensitivity, superconducting nanowire detectors achieve almost 100% quantum efficiency and exceed the detection efficiency of conventional ion detectors at low energies by a factor of up to a 1,000. In contrast to conventional detectors, they can also distinguish macromolecules by their impact energy. This allows for more sensitive detection of proteins and it provides additional information in mass spectrometry.