The effect of laser pulse duration on ICP-MS signal intensity, elemental fractionation, and detection limits in fs-LA-ICP-MS

We investigated the role that pulse width has on the analytical capabilities of laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), specifically in the range of 40 fs to 300 ps. Three main results of LA-ICP-MS were examined: signal intensity or sensitivity, elemental fractionation or that the ablated aerosol is representative of the bulk, and detection limits of various elements in the samples. The samples used for this experiment were NIST glass standards, dielectrics that exhibit different ablation properties compared to metal targets. Our results demonstrate that in the range of 40 fs to 1 ps, negligible differences occur in signal intensity, elemental ratios, and detection limits. The U/Pb and U/Th ratios, which were examined to ensure limited fractionation, give comparable results at all pulse widths investigated.