Automated, 3‐D and Sub‐Micron Accurate Ablation‐Volume Determination by Inverse Molding and X‐Ray Computed Tomography

Lopez, Diego Monserrat; Grimaudo, Valentine; Prone, Giulia; Flisch, Alexander; Riedo, Andreas; Zboray, Robert; Lüthi, T.; Mayor, Marcel; Fussenegger, Martin; Broekmann, Peter; Würz, Peter; Lörtscher, Emanuel

doi:10.1002/advs.202200136

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The mass spectrometric analysis involves transformation from the time scale to the mass scale to assign measured mass ion peaks to the corresponding elements (isotopes). The mass peak integration in the time spectrum yields the number of measured ions, and the measurement of all atomic ions provides the means to derive the atomic and isotope concentra- Sub-micrometre vertical and micrometre lateral spatial resolution can be maintained with the control of laser ion source parameters (flexible focussing optics, laser pulse energy tuning) [94][95][96]. The measurements can be performed on raw samples and do not require the application of advanced surface preparation methods.…”

Section: Laser Mass Spectrometer (Lms)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards In-Situ Geochemical Analysis of Planetary Rocks and Soils by Laser Ablation/Ionisation Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Spectroscopic instruments were a part of payloads on orbiter and lander missions and delivered vast data sets to explore minerals, elements and molecules on air-less rocky planets, asteroids and comets on global and local scales. To answer current space science questions, the chemical composition of planetary rocks and soils at grain scale is required, as well as measurements of element (isotope) concentrations down to the part per million or lower. Only mass spectrometric methods equipped with laser sampling ion sources can deliver the necessary information. Laser sampling techniques can reduce the dimensions of the investigated sample material down to micrometre scale, allowing for the composition analysis of grain-sized objects or thin mineral layers with sufficiently high spatial resolution, such that important geological processes can be recognised and studied as they progressed in time. We describe the performance characteristics, when applied to meteorite and geological samples, of a miniaturised laser ablation/ionisation mass spectrometer (named LMS) system that has been developed in our group. The main advantages of the LMS instrument over competing techniques are illustrated by examples of high spatial (lateral and vertical) resolution studies in different meteorites, terrestrial minerals and fossil-like structures in ancient rocks for most elements of geochemical interest. Top-level parameters, such as dimension, weight, and power consumption of a possible flight design of the LMS system are presented as well.

show abstract

Section: Laser Mass Spectrometer (Lms)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards In-Situ Geochemical Analysis of Planetary Rocks and Soils by Laser Ablation/Ionisation Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Automated, 3‐D and Sub‐Micron Accurate Ablation‐Volume Determination by Inverse Molding and X‐Ray Computed Tomography

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ablation of materials in combination with element-specific analysis of the matter released is a widely used method to accurately determine a material's chemical composition. Among other methods, repetitive ablation using femto-second pulsed laser systems provides excellent spatial resolution through its incremental removal of nanometer thick layers. The method can be combined with high-resolution mass spectrometry, for example, laser ablation ionization mass spectrometry, to simultaneously analyze chemically the material released. With increasing depth of the volume ablated, however, secondary effects start to play an important role and the ablation geometry deviates substantially from the desired cylindrical shape. Consequently, primarily conical but sometimes even more complex, rather than cylindrical, craters are created. Their dimensions need to be analyzed to enable a direct correlation with the element-specific analytical signals. Here, a post-ablation analysis method is presented that combines generic polydimethylsiloxane-based molding of craters with the volumetric reconstruction of the crater's inverse using X-ray computed tomography. Automated analysis yields the full, sub-micron accurate anatomy of the craters, thereby a scalable and generic method to better understand the fundamentals underlying ablation processes applicable to a wide range of materials. Furthermore, it may serve toward a more accurate determination of heterogeneous material's composition for a variety of applications without requiring time-and labor-intensive analyses of individual craters.

show abstract

Laser-produced craters in minerals of a palladium ore sample

Selmani,

Elhamdaoui,

Mohamed

et al. 2023

Appl. Phys. A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is an emerging technique in geochemistry that allows rapid in-situ analysis of the elemental composition and concentration of minerals by laser ablation of the material surface and measurement of the light emitted by the resulting plasma. However, this type of application is still under development for geochemical analyses. Indeed, it is still difficult to know how minerals are ablated under laser pulses in the context of LIBS geochemical analysis using a high-power Q-switched Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064 nm with pulse durations on the order of nanoseconds. Important questions remain unanswered regarding the volume sampled by the laser beam on the minerals to be analyzed, as well as the plasmas induced by the laser on the minerals in air at atmospheric pressure. The objective of this work is to provide insight into laser-mineral interactions within the framework of LIBS geochemical analysis of ore samples with emphasis on the characterization of plasmas and laser ablation craters under ambient air at atmospheric pressure. We study the crater morphology in the three main phases of a palladium ore fragment (Lac des Iles mine, Canada), namely plagioclase feldspar, amphibole and sulfides [Mohamed et al., Geostand Geoanal Res 45:539, (2021)] We performed four series of laser shots (50, 250, 500 and 1000 shots) in the three mineral phases and characterized the morphology of the craters obtained by scanning electron microscopy and optical coherence tomography. It turns out that laser ablation is most effective in plagioclase, presumably due to its lower thermal conductivity. In addition, the temperature and electron density of the plasma were determined for each phase from the iron and nickel lines of LIBS spectra taken 4 µs after the laser shots. They are between 6300 and 8600 °C and about 2 × 1017 cm−3, respectively.

show abstract

Automated, 3‐D and Sub‐Micron Accurate Ablation‐Volume Determination by Inverse Molding and X‐Ray Computed Tomography

Cited by 6 publications

References 30 publications

Towards In-Situ Geochemical Analysis of Planetary Rocks and Soils by Laser Ablation/Ionisation Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

Towards In-Situ Geochemical Analysis of Planetary Rocks and Soils by Laser Ablation/Ionisation Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

Automated, 3‐D and Sub‐Micron Accurate Ablation‐Volume Determination by Inverse Molding and X‐Ray Computed Tomography

Laser-produced craters in minerals of a palladium ore sample

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About