Design analysis of a laser ablation cell for inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry by numerical simulation

A laser ablation setup including outer chamber, sample tube, sample holder and transport tubing was modelled and optimized using advanced computational fluid dynamics techniques. The different components of the setup were coupled and the whole device was modelled at once. The mass transport efficiency and transit times of near infrared femtosecond (fs) laser generated brass aerosols in pure argon and helium–argon mixtures were calculated at experimentally optimized conditions and a transient signal was constructed. The use of helium or argon did not influence the mass transport efficiency, but the signal structure changed. The signal fine structure was retrieved and experimentally validated. Bimodal peak structures were observed that seemed to originate from turbulent effects in the tubing connecting a Y-connector and the injector.