CAMAM: A Miniature Laser Ablation Ionisation Mass Spectrometer and Microscope‐Camera System for In Situ Investigation of the Composition and Morphology of Extraterrestrial Materials

Abstract

Performance studies of a microscope‐camera system (MCS) and a laser ablation/ionisation mass spectrometer (LIMS) instrument (referred to here as a laser mass spectrometer or LMS) are presented. These two instruments were designed independently for in situ analysis of solids on planetary surfaces and will be combined to a single miniature instrument suite for in situ chemical and morphological analysis of surface materials on planetary bodies. LMS can perform sensitive chemical (elemental, isotope and molecular) analyses with spatial resolution close to micrometre‐sized grains. It allows for studies with mass resolution (M/ΔM) up to 800 in ablation mode (elemental composition) and up to 1500 in desorption mode (molecular analysis). With an effective dynamic range of at least eight orders of magnitude, sensitive and quantitative measurements can be conducted of almost all elements and isotopes with a concentration larger than a few ppb atoms. Hence, in addition to the major element composition, which is important for the determination of mineralogical constituents of surface materials, trace elements can also be measured to provide information on mineral formation processes. Highly accurate isotope ratio measurements can be used to determine in situ geochronology of sample material and for investigations of various isotope fractionation processes. MCS can conduct optical imagery of mm‐sized objects at several wavelengths with micrometre spatial resolution for the characterisation of morphological surface details and to provide insight into surface mineralogy. Furthermore, MCS can help in the selection of sample surface areas for further mass spectrometric analysis of the chemical composition. Surface auto‐fluorescence measurements and images in polarised light are additional capabilities of the MCS, to identify either fluorescing minerals or organic materials, if present on the analysed surface, for further investigation by LMS. The results obtained by investigations of NIST reference materials, amino acid films and a natural graphite sample embedded in silicate rock are presented to illustrate the performance of the instruments and their potential to deliver chemical information for mineral and organic phases in their geological context.

Chemical Composition of Micrometer-Sized Filaments in an Aragonite Host by a Miniature Laser Ablation/Ionization Mass Spectrometer

“…1). The measurement campaigns were realized in a sequential measurement procedure [by homemade software for the control of the acquisition system, micro translational stages, and laser system (Riedo, 2014;Tulej et al, 2014)], including, first, the positioning of the micro translational stage to the desired surface location and the subsequent analysis by laser mass spectrometry. The calibration of the x-y-z stages with the x-y coordinates of the sample could be set with an accuracy of about -10 lm.…”

“…Detection of elements and their isotopes to differentiate between biotic an abiotic materials can be investigated by currently available miniature mass spectrometric instruments (Brinckerhoff et al, 2000;Rohner et al, 2003Rohner et al, , 2004Managadze et al, 2010). Performance studies of a miniature laser ablation/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (LMS) system developed for space research in our group have been reported in several recent publications (Riedo et al, 2010(Riedo et al, , 2013a(Riedo et al, , 2013bTulej et al, , 2014Neuland et al, 2014;Grimaudo et al, 2015). Laser ablation/ionization mass spectrometry allows for highly sensitive detection of almost all elements and isotopes with their concentrations down to tens of parts per billion at significantly better than unit mass resolution.…”

Laser Ablation/Ionisation Mass Spectrometry: Sensitive and Quantitative Chemical Depth Profiling of Solid Materials

“…The remote access to these units allows measurements with specific needs to be conducted, such as single spot measurements or rastering over a complete sample surface stepwise or continuously, including the acquisition of single laser shot mass spectra. [4,13,17,23,32,36] …”

“…[26] Unfortunately, the lander platform was cancelled later on due to budgetary reasons but since its first design in 2003 LMS has been continuously further developed. [4,13,17,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] Today, LMS represents the most powerful and versatile LIMS system ever designed for in situ space investigations and exhibits top performing figures of merit. The system has the capability to conduct quantitative measurements with high detection sensitivity (10 ppb, atomic fraction) and with a dynamic range of about eight orders of magnitude.…”

“…The system has the capability to conduct quantitative measurements with high detection sensitivity (10 ppb, atomic fraction) and with a dynamic range of about eight orders of magnitude. [17,37] It allows measurements of element isotopes with high accuracy, [38] enables the elemental imaging of heterogeneous materials with micrometre resolution, [23,32,35,36] and provides high vertical depth profiling capabilities with sub-nanometre resolution. [4,13] The measurement capabilities of LMS for elemental imaging and depth profiling of solid materials are presented in more detail in section 3, where most recent and current measurements conducted on different sample materials, including the chemical mapping of an Allende meteorite sample, depth profiling of Si-supported Cu layers, chemical analysis of micrometre fossils embedded in an argonite matrix, and capabilities towards 3D elemental imaging of bronze-alloy samples are presented.…”