Plasma ionization source for atmospheric pressure mass spectrometry imaging using near-field optical laser ablation

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) at ambient pressures with submicrometer resolution is challenging, due to the very low amount of material available for mass spectrometric analysis. In this work, we present the development and characterization of a method for MSI based on pulsed laser ablation via a scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) aperture tip. SNOM allows laser ablation of material from surfaces with submicrometer spatial resolution, which can be ionized for further chemical analysis with MS. Efficient ionization is realized here with a custom-built capillary plasma ionization source. We show the applicability of this setup for mass spectrometric analysis of three common MALDI matrices, α-4-hydroxycyanocinnamic acid, 3-aminobenzoic acid, and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid. Although the ultimate goal has been to optimize sensitivity for detecting material ablated from submicrometer diameter craters, the effective lateral resolution is currently limited by the sensitivity of the MS detection system. In our case, the sensitivity of the MS was about 1 fmol, which allowed us to achieve a spatial resolution of 2 μm. We also characterize the analytical figures of merit of our method. In particular, we demonstrate good reproducibility, a repetition rate in the range of only a few seconds, and we determined the amount of substance required to achieve optimal resolution and sensitivity. Moreover, the sample topography is available from SNOM scans, a parameter that is missing in common MSI methods.