Effect of ablation behavior on the matrix effect in nanosecond laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass...

To investigate the effect of ablation behavior on the matrix effect, nanosecond laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry is used to analyze variations in element signal intensities of NIST 610 and GSE-1G standard samples with different laser fluence. Scanning electron microscopy and super depth-of-field microscopy are used to capture the morphology of the ablation crater and obtain depth information, respectively. A pump-probe shadowgraph is used to record the dynamic process of plasma plume evolution during sample ablation. Experimental results show that the proportion of refractory elements to volatile elements in the ablation materials with two different matrices increases with an increase in laser fluence. For the GSE-1G matrix, this range of increase is relatively small, and the signal loss of refractory elements occurs at a higher laser fluence. Combined with the morphology of the ablation crater and evolution of the plasma plume, this potential cause is related to the plasma shielding, which is beneficial to form and deposit large particles, resulting in the loss of refractory elements at high energy fluence.