text: Direct Analysis in Real Time performs this process on an analyte molecule.
full_question: Direct Analysis in Real Time performs this process on an analyte molecule. An external DC electric field may distort the Coulomb potential barrier enough to allow the "tunnel" form of this phenomenon to occur. This process occurs in a cascade fashion in the Townsend avalanche, whose rate can be calculated with a Faraday cup. In one technique, the sample undergoes this process following desorption by an ultraviolet laser and em- bedding in a crystallized matrix. "Soft" types of this process include aerosolizing the sample, called "elec- trospray," as well as MALDI, and both techniques fragment the sample in preparation for mass spectrometry. For 10 points, name this process in which a molecule or atom is charged to yield a cation or anion.
first_sentence: Direct Analysis in Real Time performs this process on an analyte molecule.
raw_answer: ionization [or tunnel ionization; or electrospray ionization; or matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization; or creating ions; or obvious equivalents; prompt on MALDI; prompt on creating either positive or negatively charged molecules] 