Blackbody infrared radiative dissociation

In mass spectrometry blackbody infrared radiative dissociation (BIRD) is a method for fragmenting gas phase ions for tandem mass spectrometric analysis (structural elucidation). BIRD uses the light from black body radiation to thermally (vibrationally) excite the ions until a bond breaks. This is very similar to infrared multiphoton dissociation with the exception of the source of radiation. This technique is most often studied in Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry.