Excimer laser ablation system

The New Wave Research/Merchantek laser ablation systems feature numerous innovations including flat beam ablation, 213 nm UV ablation and Merchantek laser ablation software. The UP193HE, high energy, excimer-based laser ablation system is the second generation of excimer-based laser which is specifically designed for solid sampling introduction to ICP, ICP-MS, noble gas MS and stable isotope MS instruments of all makes and models. Its high energy density (>35 J/cm2) at the sample, homogenised beam and short 193 nm wavelength make it suitable for opaque and highly transmissive materials alike.

The user can target micro-features such as defects and inclusions with spots down to 4 µm diameter. The control software offers a wide variety of ablation methods such as depth profiling and raster scanning for bulk analysis. This versatile instrument is equipped to handle a wide variety of applications including diamonds, forensics, geochemistry and bioscience analysis.

The UP193HE Advantage features a 193 nm wavelength that couples readily with difficult materials like highly transparent quartz for near matrix-independent ablation. The finely homogenised beam yields clean, flat craters down to 4 µm diameters at energy densities in excess of 35 J/cm2 without fracturing of the sample's surface. Twelve pre-calibrated, aperture imaged spot sizes can be selected. Its long working-distance objective accommodates ICP, ICP-MS, noble gas and IRMS sample cells and enables depth profiling well beyond a 1:1 crater aspect ratio.

The air-cooled excimer laser has good stability, within 2%; a fully integrated, automated system with mobile cart configured for ICP-MS; stable isotope and noble gas MS.

UP193HE operates from the mass spectrometer computer via Merchantek software.