Isotope analysis of micro metal particles by adopting laser-ablation mass spectrometry

The isotope analysis of microparticles in environmental samples as well as laboratory samples is an important task. A special concern is necessary in particle analysis of swipe samples. Micro particles are normally analyzed either by dissolving particles in the solvents and adopting conventional analytical methods or direct analysis method such as a laser-ablation ICP mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), SIMS, and SNMS (sputtered neutral mass spectrometry). But the LA-ICPMS uses large amount of samples because normally laser beam is tightly focused on the target particle for the complete ablation. The SIMS and SNMS utilize ion beams for the generation of sample ions from the particle. But the number of ions generated by an ion beam is less than 5% of the total generated particles in SIMS. The SNMS is also an excellent analytical technique for particle analysis, however, ion beam and frequency tunable laser system are required for the analysis. Recently a direct analysis of elements as well as isotopes by using laser-ablation is recognized one of the most efficient detection technology for particle samples. The laser-ablation mass spectrometry requires only one laser source without frequency tuneability with no sample pretreatment. Therefore this technique is one of the simplest analysis techniques for solid samples as well as particles. In this study as a part of the development of the new isotope analysis techniques for particles samples, a direct laser-ablation is adopted with mass spectrometry. Zinc and gadolinium were chosen as target samples, since these elements have isotopes with minor abundance (0.62% for Zn, and 0.2% for Gd). The preliminary result indicates that isotopes of these two elements are analyzed within 10% of natural abundance with good mass resolution by using direct laser-ablation mass spectrometry