 When a high voltage (3–4 kV) was applied to the stainless-steel capillary, strong ion signals appeared.The ion abundances were found to be orders of magnitude greater than those obtained by conventional electrospray ionization in the case of aqueous solutions.This approach to laser spray ionization is a hybrid of three basic techniques for the generation of gaseous ions from the condensed phase, i.e., energy-sudden activation, nebulization and the action of an electric field.