PARALLEL ELEMENTAL AND MOLECULAR MASS SPECTROMETRY ANALYSIS WITH LASER ABLATION SAMPLING

• Main Authors: REIFSCHNEIDER, OLGA, WEHE, CHRISTOPH ALEXANDER, SPERLING, MICHAEL, KARST, UWE, KÖPPEN, CHRISTINA
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 02.12.2015
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS; ELECTRICITY

An apparatus for mass spectrometry includes a laser ablation sampler comprising a laser ablation chamber and a laser which produces a laser beam. The laser irradiates and ablates a material from a sample placed within the laser ablation chamber so as to generate an ablated sample material. A transfer tube system comprising transfer tubes connect the laser ablation sample with, and provides a parallel and simultaneous transport of the ablated sample material to, each of a soft and a hard ionization source. The soft and hard ionization sources interact with the ablated sample material to respectively generate ion populations having a mass-to-charge ratio distribution. These respective mass-to-charge ratio distributions are respectively transmitted to a molecular mass spectrometer and to an elemental mass spectrometer which provide information on the mass-to-charge ratio distribution. The mass-to-charge ratio distributions are used to characterize a composition of the ablated sample material.