Ionisation and Fragmentation of Small Biomolecules with Femtosecond LaserPulses

We report on femtosecond laser studies of small biomolecules, produced in the gas phase via laser induced acoustic desorption. In studies of the aromatic amino acid phenylalanine, we have found that the wavelength of the femtosecond pulse can be used to manipulate molecular fragmentation. These preliminary experiments indicate that this technique provides a promising scheme for investigations of ultrafast dynamics in complex molecules. Future studies should enable temporally resolved observations, by employing ultrafast pump-probe techniques.