The Massbox: A Novel Laser Ablation Laser Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer (LALI-TOFMS) Designed to Revolutionize Trace Elemental Analyses

Abstract:

The Massbox couples laser ablation, laser ionization with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LALI-TOFMS) to offer trace-level detection capabilities for virtually the entire periodic table. The Massbox's patented LALI source is a dual-laser design that liberates material from a sample and subsequently ionizes that material in two discrete steps. The ablation/desorption laser can be set to either 213 nm or 266 nm for ablation, or it can be set to 1064 nm for desorption making the Massbox highly versatile and suitable for a wide variety of applications. After ablation/desorption, a short delay (~1 µs) allows plasma extinction and dispersion of plasma-generated ions before the ionization laser is triggered. The ionization laser is aligned parallel to the sample surface with the beam focused inside the neutral particle cloud to form ions from neutral material. Compared to traditional LA-ICP-MS, ions formed from the neutrals are much less subject to elemental fractionation, and because ionization occurs at vacuum in the Massbox, losses and fractionation effects that result from having to transport ions from an atmospheric pressure ionization chamber to the mass analyzer are virtually eliminated. Furthermore, the LALI source replaces the more traditional Ar plasma thereby eliminating polyatomic interferences, which results in isotopically accurate mass spectra.