PHOTONIS USA Introduces DART® Ion Mobility Spectrometer
New Instrument Offers Simplified, Fast Analysis
DART® Ion Mobility Spectrometer
March 125, 2013
Sturbridge, MA – PHOTONIS USA, a leading electro-optic manufacturer, introduces the DART® Ion Mobility Spectrometer,
designed for simplified, fast analysis of solids or liquids to easily detect contaminants or qualify material. It can be used in
homeland security, pharmaceutical or laboratory applications. The product will be on display at Pittcon, March 18-21, in
Philadelphia, PA, in PHOTONIS’ booth #1018.
The DART® Ion Mobility Spectrometer provides sample analysis in a two stage IMS configuration. High resolving power (64-
150) is achieved using PHOTONIS’ patented Resistive Glass technology which is currently used in other IMS applications, and a
new photo-etched ion gate that provides the rapid pulsing necessary to produce spectra with high resolving power. The sample
inlet utilizes IonSense’s patented Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART®) technology to ionize solid, liquid and gas phase analytes
with no special sample preparation. The new DART® Ion Mobility Spectrometer is ideal for applications where simplicity, accuracy
and speed are required, such as product or food safety, composition analysis and environmental control.
The new DART® Ion Mobility Spectrometer is the result of a joint development effort between PHOTONIS USA and
IonSense, Inc. to mutually leverage their core strengths in collaboration with researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
IonSense President and CEO Brian Musselman noted, “We were impressed by work from Prof. Facundo Fernandez's group at
Georgia Tech demonstrating the use of PHOTONIS Resistive Glass products for IMS construction, inspiring us to jointly create a
Resistive Glass DART IMS product with the best of both technologies.” He added, “Lower gas temperatures and using the DART
to produce mainly intact protonated molecules for analysis shows promise as a means to simplify the IMS spectra.”
IonSense is a leader in analytical tools for food and drug safety, and has developed a series of easy-to-use, low-cost DART®
source products aimed at routine or specific analysis. PHOTONIS USA is the industry leader in mass spectrometer sensors and
holds several patents on its Resistive Glass products, including one for an ion mobility spectrometer that features this technology.
About the companies:
PHOTONIS is a multi-national high-technology group with more than 40 years experience in manufacture, sales, and
innovation of specialized photo-sensor and electro-optic technologies. The PHOTONIS Group operates internationally in the
Night Vision, Industrial, Scientific, Medical and Imaging markets. PHOTONIS USA designs and manufactures a wide range of
custom and standardized components and assemblies for mass spectrometry as well as other medical, bio-medical and scientific
instruments, and holds several patents in these fields. For more information, please visit the web site at
www.photonis.com.
IonSense, Inc. (www.ionsense.com) is a Massachusetts-based company providing OpenSpot Mass Spectrometry™
solutions to the fields of food safety, forensics, drug development, and chemical analysis. They manufacture and develop direct
analysis in real time (DART®) and atmospheric solids analysis probe (ASAP™) technology. The company provides sources and
accessories for JEOL, ThermoFisher, Agilent, AB SCIEX, Bruker, Shimadzu, and Waters mass spectrometers. IonSense products
including DART and ASAP technologies are distributed are distributed in Europe by KR Analytical Ltd, in China by ASPEC
Technologies, in Japan by AMR Inc., in India by Orochem India, in Korea by Omics Biotech, in Canada by VBM Science, Ltd., and
in Singapore by International Laboratory Supplies Pte.