TY - JOUR A1 - Bierstedt, Andreas A1 - Kersten, H. A1 - Glaus, Reto A1 - Gornushkin, Igor B. A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Riedel, Jens T1 - Characterization of an airborne laser-spark ion source for ambient mass spectrometry N2 - An airborne laser plasma is suggested as an ambient ion source for mass spectrometry. Its fundamental physical properties, such as an excellent spatial and temporal definition, high electron and ion densities and a high effective cross section in maintaining the plasma, make it a promising candidate for future applications. For deeper insights into the plasma properties, the optical plasma emission is examined and compared to mass spectra. The results show a seemingly contradictory behavior, since the emitted light reports the plasma to almost entirely consist of hot elemental ions, while the corresponding mass spectra exhibit the formation of intact molecular species. Further experiments, including time- resolved shadowgraphy, spatially resolved mass spectrometry, as well as flow-dependent emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, suggest the analyte molecules to be formed in the cold plasma vicinity upon interaction with reactive species formed inside the hot plasma center. Spatial separation is maintained by concentrically expanding pressure waves, inducing a strong unidirectional diffusion. The accompanying rarefaction inside the plasma center can be compensated by a gas stream application. This replenishing results in a strong increase in emission brightness, in local reactive species concentration, and eventually in direct mass spectrometric sensitivity. To determine the analytical performance of the new technique, a comparison with an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source was conducted. Two kitchen herbs, namely, spearmint and basil, were analyzed without any sample pretreatment. The presented results demonstrate a considerably higher sensitivity of the presented laser-spark ionization technique. KW - Laser-spark KW - Laser induced plasma KW - Ambient mass spectrometry KW - Optical emission spectroscopy KW - Ionization PY - 2017 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.6b04178 SN - 0003-2700 SN - 1520-6882 VL - 89 IS - 6 SP - 3437 EP - 3444 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC, USA AN - OPUS4-39474 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bierstedt, Andreas T1 - Combination of laser spectroscopy and laser ablation mass spectrometry T2 - IMSC 2014 CY - Geneva, Schweiz DA - 2014-08-24 PY - 2014 AN - OPUS4-31847 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bierstedt, Andreas A1 - Stindt, Arne A1 - Warschat, Carsten A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Riedel, Jens T1 - High repetition rate atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization in combination with liquid matrices N2 - One major drawback of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) is still the relatively poor pulse-to-pulse reproducibility of the signal intensity. This problem, caused by insufficient homogeneity in the matrix/analyte co-crystallization, is usually circumvented by averaging the detected ion intensity over several shots. However, during the consecutive laser pulses, the applied matrix gets depleted and only a number of subsequent experiments can be done on the same sample spot. In order to achieve the desired long-term stability in combination with a sufficient pulse-to-pulse reproducibility, recently liquid MALDI matrices have been introduced. This contribution demonstrates the promising combination of liquid matrices with high repetition rate lasers for atmospheric pressure MALDI (AP-MALDI). To demonstrate the robustness of the new approach, two different kinds of liquid matrices were used in combination with both a typical flashlamp pumped 15 Hz laser and a diode pumped solid state laser operated at 5 kHz. The latter showed a stable ion signal over more than 3,500,000 consecutive laser pulses. KW - AP-MALDI KW - Liquid matrix KW - High repetition rate KW - Ionic liquid KW - DPSS laser PY - 2014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1255/ejms.1292 SN - 1469-0667 SN - 1356-1049 SN - 1365-0718 VL - 20 IS - 5 SP - 367 EP - 374 PB - IM Publications CY - Chichester AN - OPUS4-32510 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bierstedt, Andreas A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Riedel, Jens T1 - Characterization of two modes in a dielectric barrier discharge probe by optical emission spectroscopy and time-of-flight-mass spectrometry N2 - Among the large number of new ambient ionization schemes in the last few years, dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) has witnessed special attention. In this contribution a versatile dual mode DBD is introduced and characterized by means of optical emission spectroscopy and time-of-flight mass spectrometry. A direct comparison of the individual results from spectroscopy, spectrometry and transient current/voltage consumption gives evidence for the existence of two individual operational mechanisms. The first is driven by rapid transient changes in the potential difference between the two electrodes over time (usually denoted as the homogeneous mode), while the second is caused at high static potential differences (leading to filamentary discharges). The transient versus steady-state characteristics of the individual discharge origin suggest the driving force for the current flow to be inductive and capacitive, respectively. In most cases of dielectric barrier plasmas both discharge types coexist as competitive ion formation channels, however, detailed plasma characteristics of DBDs operated under different conditions allow for a clear distinction of the individual contributions. In this way, two characteristic product channels for the ionization of ambient water could be observed resulting in the generation of either preferentially protonated water clusters or ammonium water clusters. Careful tuning of the operation parameters of the discharge device allows an operation predominated by either of the two modes. As a consequence, facile switching into the desired operational mode results in either protonated molecules or ammoniated molecules of the analyte. Plasma characteristics for both moieties were evaluated and cross-correlated on the basis of several factors including: the production of reagent ions, the individual appearance of current/voltage profiles, UV/Vis spectroscopy, voltage and flux dependence and the individual response to test compounds. Although the filamentary mode has been already discussed in the literature to induce fragmentation processes, no experimental evidence for analyte dissociation could be found in the case of the test compounds used KW - Dual mode KW - Dielectric barrier discharge KW - Ambient desorption/ionization mass spectrometry KW - Emission spectroscopy KW - Ionization PY - 2015 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/C5JA00332F SN - 0267-9477 SN - 1364-5544 VL - 30 IS - 12 SP - 2496 EP - 2506 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-35092 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bierstedt, Andreas T1 - Laser Desorption Strategies for Ambient Molecular Mass Spectrometry N2 - Ambient mass spectrometry on a molecular level has become an indispensable analytical technique for the detection and characterization of organic molecules of different type, composition and size. Novel strategies, as well as fundamental and mechanistic research, has been successfully employed to obtain new hyphenated interrogation schemes, including laser ablation dielectric barrier discharge ionization (LA-DBDI) and laser ablation droplet ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS). To approach more complex analytical problems, development yielded in a hyphenated instrument using one shared high repetition rate laser for laser desorption mass spectrometry coupled to dielectric barrier discharge postionization and Raman scattering. Raman spectroscopy displays structural information. Mass spectrometry allows for an accurate determination of the molecular mass. Thus, a combination of LA-MS and optical spectroscopy could be highly beneficial for an unambiguous identification of complicated analytical samples. Acoustic levitation of droplets has matured to a powerful tool for containerless handling of microliter samples. In microfluidic systems the absence of confining walls is greatly beneficial because it can effectively suppress agglomeration and contamination of the sample originating at the liquid/solid interfaces. Here we present a set-up, utilizing the ?? = 2.94 µm output of a diode pumped Er:YAG laser for excitation, opening laser spray ionization to any OH-group containing solvents. To obtain deeper insights into ongoing laser desorption processes mechanistic studies have been carried out utilizing shadowgraphy experiments. Those nicely show the evaporation plume and its spatial distribution during a time period of up to 1 ms. Achieved results allow for further sensitivity improvement via a better ionization efficiency and a better subsequent ion transmission. T2 - Adlershofer Forschungsforum 2015 CY - Berlin, Deutschland DA - 2015-11-11 PY - 2015 AN - OPUS4-34948 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - You, Yi A1 - Bierstedt, Andreas A1 - Riedel, Jens T1 - Spatial, temporal, and spectral characterization and kinetic investigations of a high repetition-rate laser-induced micro-plasma in air N2 - Advances in laser-induced plasmas have enabled various rapid and simple analytical applications. Especially, their uses in the analyses of condensed-phase samples have drawn significant attention in the past few decades. Depending on the laser energy per pulse, various analytical goals can be achieved. Laser-induced airborne plasmas allow direct analysis of species in ambient air. Importantly, all of these applications are based on a fundamental understanding of the laser–medium interaction. Recent developments of diode-pumped solid-state lasers offer an alternative to conventional powerful, yet bulky lasers, which can specifically operate at high Repetition rates. Although these lasers deliver much lower power per pulse (mJ compared to mJ), the outstanding repetition rates offer significant improvement to meet statistical needs in some cases. In the present work, a mJ-laserinduced airborne plasma was characterized through optical emission analysis. By using a ns-timegated image detector coupled with specific bandpass filters, spatially, temporally, and spectrally resolved plasma images were recorded. Compared to conventional mJ-laser-induced plasmas, the one induced by mJ-lasers demonstrated unique features during its evolution. Specifically, measurements of the distribution of ionic and atomic species revealed distinctive energy/matter transfer processes during early ignition of the plasma. Meanwhile, dynamic investigations suggested subsequent matter transport in the later stage. KW - Laser-induced plasma KW - Plasma KW - DPSS-laser PY - 2019 UR - https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2019/ja/c9ja00163h DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/C9JA00163H SN - 0267-9477 VL - 34 IS - 8 SP - 1618 EP - 1629 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-48622 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bierstedt, Andreas A1 - Warschat, Carsten A1 - You, Yi A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Riedel, Jens T1 - Stimulated Raman scattering by intracavity mixing of nanosecond laser excitation and fluorescence in acoustically levitated droplets N2 - Raman spectroscopy is becoming a commonly used, powerful tool for structural elucidation and species identification of small liquid samples, e.g. in droplet-based digital microfluidic devices. Due to the low scattering cross sections and the temporal restrictions dictated by the droplet flow, however, it depends on amplification strategies which often come at a cost. In the case of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), this can be an enhanced susceptibility towards memory effects and cross talk, whereas resonant and/or stimulated Raman techniques require higher instrumental sophistication, such as tunable lasers or the high electromagnetic field strengths which are typically provided by femtosecond lasers. Here, an alternative instrumental approach is discussed, in which stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is achieved using the single fixed wavelength output of an inexpensive diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) nanosecond laser. The required field strengths are realized by an effective light trapping in a resonator mode inside the interrogated droplets, while the resonant light required for the stimulation is provided by the fluorescence signal of an admixed laser dye. To elucidate the underlying optical processes, proof-of-concept experiments are conducted on acoustically levitated droplets, mimicking a highly reproducible and stable digital fluidic system. By using isotope-labeled compounds, the assignment of the emitted radiation as Raman scattering is firmly corroborated. A direct comparison reveals an amplification of the usually weak spontaneous Stokes emission by up to five orders of magnitude. Further investigation of the optical power dependence reveals the resulting gain to depend on the intensity of both, the input laser fluence and the concentration of the admixed fluorophore, leaving SRS as the only feasible amplification mechanism. While in this study stable large droplets have been studied, the underlying principles also hold true for smaller droplets, in which case significantly lower laser pulse energy is required. Since DPSS lasers are readily available with high repetition rates, the presented detection strategy bears a huge potential for fast online identification and characterization routines in digital microfluidic devices. KW - Ultrasonic levitation KW - Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D0AY01504K VL - 12 IS - 42 SP - 5046 EP - 5054 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-51566 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bierstedt, Andreas A1 - You, Yi A1 - van Wasen, Sebastian A1 - Bosc-Bierne, Gaby A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Riedel, Jens T1 - Laser-Induced Microplasma as an Ambient Ionization Approach for the Mass-Spectrometric Analysis of Liquid Samples N2 - An airborne high repetition rate laser-induced plasma was applied as a versatile ambient ionization source for mass-spectrometric determinations of polar and nonpolar analytes in solution. The laser plasma was sustained between a home-built pneumatic nebulizer and the inlet capillary of an Orbitrap mass spectrometer. To maintain stable conditions in the droplet-rich spray environment, the plasma was directly fed by the fundamental output (λ = 1064 nm) of a current state-of-the-art diode-pumped solid-state laser. Ionization by the laser-driven plasma resulted in signals of intact analyte ions of several chemical categories. The analyte ions were found to be fully desolvated since no further increase in ion signal was observed upon heating of the inlet capillary. Due to the electroneutrality of the plasma, both positive and negative analyte ions could be formed simultaneously without altering the operational parameters of the ion source. While, typically, polar analytes with pronounced gas phase basicities worked best, nonpolar and amphoteric compounds were also detected. The latter were detected with lower ion signals and were prone to a certain degree of fragmentation induced during the ionization process. All the described attests the laser-induced microplasma by a good performance in terms of stability, robustness, sensitivity, and general applicability as a self-contained ion source for the liquid sample introduction. KW - Laser KW - Laser-induced plasma KW - Ambient ionization KW - Mass Spectrometry PY - 2019 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.9b00329 SN - 0003-2700 VL - 91 IS - 9 SP - 5922 EP - 5928 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC, USA AN - OPUS4-47939 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -