CryoDetectors have a completely different detection principle than standard ionizing detectors. They originate historically from high energy particle physics and astro particle physics.
CryoDetectors are single particle detectors which measure the kinetic energy of the molecule. In a MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer equipped with such a CryoDetector each laser pulse provides two numbers: the time-of-flight and the energy of the molecule (upper part of diagramm below). After acquisition of a sufficient number of laser pulses a scatter plot energy versus time-of-flight can be generated (lower part of diagramm below).
