TY - CONF A1 - Bierstedt, Andreas A1 - van Wasen, Sebastian A1 - Riedel, Jens T1 - Laser-spark ionization mass spectrometry N2 - A versatile ionization scheme for atmospheric pressure MS is presented. It is based on a quasi-continuous laser-induced plasma (LIP), generated by a 26 kHz pulsed DPSS-laser, which is ignited in front of the MS inlet. Analytes are determined with different sampling regimes, comprising either an ambient desorption/ionization mechanism, a liquid-phase or gas-phase sample introduction. The MS signal closely resembles the ionization behavior of APCI-like plasma-based sources, such as DBD or DART. Though LIPs are known to efficiently atomize/ionize any sample material, mass spectra of intact molecular ions are recorded, exhibiting low fragment-ion content. To understand this contradictory behavior, the plasma properties are investigated that lead to the formation of molecular ions. Comprehensive studies include optical emission spectroscopy, shadowgraph imaging and mass spectrometry diagnostics. The results show that the ionization of analyte does not occur in the plasma itself, but in the cold adjacent gas layer. The pulsed character of LIPs induces an expanding shockwave, which concentrically expands around the plasma core and sweeps the molecules toward the plasma edges, where they are ionized either directly by the self-emission of the hot core or via interaction with secondary reactants. However, this unidirectional transport causes a rarefaction inside the plasma center, which leads to a decrease in plasma intensity and number density. Thus, a restoration of the former gaseous medium by other dynamically equilibrated diffusion processes would be favorable. Besides gas replenishing, we demonstrate the beneficial use of an acoustical standing wave inside an ultrasonic resonator on the performance of the LIP. T2 - European Mass Spectrometry Conference 2018 CY - Saarbrücken, Germany DA - 11.03.2018 KW - Laser-spark ionization KW - Laser-induced plasma KW - Ambient mass spectrometry KW - DPSS laser PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-44492 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - van Wasen, Sebastian A1 - Bierstedt, Andreas A1 - Volmer, D. A1 - Riedel, Jens T1 - Airborne laser-spark ion source for direct microfluidic coupling N2 - The development and improvement of new ionization techniques for mass spectrometry often requires dedicated, specific sampling approaches. Recently, a novel ionization scheme for ambient MS has been introduced based on a quasi-continuous laser-induced plasma, which was ignited directly before the MS inlet. This setup combines the general advantages of ambient ionization, provides electro neutrality, sufficient duty cycle and a ubiquitous plasma medium. A high repetition rate DPSS laser (Conqueror 3-LAMBDA, Nd:YVO4, 1 - 500 kHz, average output power: 12 W at 50 kHz, Compact Laser Solutions GmbH, Germany) and the corresponding optomechanical system were installed on an optical breadboard above the inlet of a LCQ DecaXP ion trap mass spectrometer. The quasi-continuous airborne plasma was ignited inside the sprayed sample in front of the inlet via focused laser irradiation. The introduction of liquid samples into laser-induced plasmas requires higher plasma power during solvent evaporation as compared to gaseous samples. This increased demand was approached via a two-fold strategy: Firstly, an alternative, more powerful, laser plasma driven by the fundamental instead of the second harmonic wavelength was implemented, which provided a 10-fold increase of signal intensity, while maintaining the same reagent ion pattern as the previous plasma. Protonated water clusters [(H2O]nH]+, NH4+ as well as charge transfer promoting ion O2+, dominated the reagent ion mass spectrum. Secondly, a miniaturized nebulizer was used to minimize the size of the plasma quenching solvent droplets. The result of these improvements was a new and very stable ion source for direct microfluidic coupling. A variety of samples demonstrated the performance of the ion source. A laser-driven plasma was shown to be a powerful ion source for gaseous and solid samples. For the first time, liquid samples were examined using the novel source. In addition to demonstrating an improved strategy for igniting the laser plasma, this contribution also covers the miniaturization of the spray source for enhanced ionization, while minimizing sample consumption via a microfluidic spray systems. T2 - International Mass Spectrometry Conference 2018 CY - Florence, Italy DA - 26.08.2018 KW - Airborne KW - Laser-spark KW - Laser-induced plasma KW - Microfluidic KW - Mass Spectrometry PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-45839 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - van Wasen, Sebastian A1 - Bierstedt, Andreas A1 - Riedel, Jens T1 - Airborne laser-spark for ambient desorption/ionization of liquids N2 - The development and enhancement of new ionization techniques for mass spectrometry often needs to be custom-tailored for specific sampling approaches. Here, a direct sampling ionization technique is presented for ambient mass spectrometry. Ambient mass spectrometry based techniques are typically used to analyze samples in their native states without sample pretreatment. This new design is based on a quasi-continuous airborne plasma which is ignited inside the particulate air via a focused laser irradiation. Desorption and ionization of the analyte molecules are achieved by the laser plasma without reaching the plasma. The ionization process is induced by interaction with nascent ionic fragments, electrons and ultraviolet photons in the plasma vicinity. Previously, this method was solely used for the characterization of solid and gaseous analytes. The sample introduction was occurred via thermal desorption and headspace analysis. This study focuses on the potential applicability of liquid samples. In comparison to previous approaches, the usage of liquid samples has an impact on the stability of typically used plasma of 532 nm. It was necessary to realize an alternative plasma using light of the fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm. That new plasma resulted in a significant more stable and bright plasma and the first laser plasma ionization spectrum was recorded for an analyte in the condensed phase with a mass spectrometer of type LCQ DecaXP. T2 - European Mass Spectrometry Conference 2018 CY - Saarbrücken, Germany DA - 11.03.2018 KW - Laser-spark KW - Laser-induced plasma KW - Ambient mass spectrometry KW - Ambient desorption/ionization KW - DPSS laser PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-44493 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bierstedt, Andreas A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Riedel, Jens T1 - Confinement and enhancement of an airborne atmospheric laser-induced plasma using an ultrasonic acoustic resonator JF - Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry N2 - Optical elemental analysis in the gas phase typically relies on electrically driven plasmas. As an alternative approach, laser-induced plasmas (LIPs) have been suggested but have so far been only scarcely used. Here, a novel signal enhancement strategy for laser-based airborne plasma optical Emission spectroscopy for gas phase analytics is presented. In contrast to an electrically driven plasma, in the laser-induced analogue dynamic matter transport equilibrium builds up. The latter results in a rarefied density regime in the plasma core itself, surrounded by an area of compressed matter. The central rarefaction leads to a decrease in plasma intensity and analyte number density, both of which are detrimental for analytical purposes. Since the repetitive ignition of LIPs is a transient process, a restoration of the former gaseous medium by other dynamically equilibrated diffusion processes would be favourable. The presented combination of an airborne LIP and an ultrasonic acoustic resonator yields a fourfold signal enhancement while the Background contribution of ubiquitous air is at the same time effectively suppressed. Since the entire enhancement effect occurs without contact, no additional sources for abrasive sample contamination are introduced. KW - DPSS laser KW - Laser-induced plasma KW - High repetition rate KW - Ultrasonic acoustic resonator KW - Optical emission spectroscopy PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/C7JA00297A SN - 0267-9477 SN - 1364-5544 VL - 33 IS - 1 SP - 135 EP - 140 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-43619 LA - eng 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 JF - Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 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 - 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 JF - Analytical Chemistry 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 -