Knowledge Base — LA–ICP–MS

We maintain these collections of references to assist users and to provide somewhere to start for those new to the field. Please let us know about any errors or ommissions, or if you have recommendations for new material that we can add to the collection.

LA–ICP–MS Technique

With a focus on ablation cells, instrumentation, laser sources, we have also included references to gas systems, ICP design, and ICP tuning. The older foundation papers are also included.

Norris, C. Ashley, et al. "Elimination of Aliasing in LA–ICP–MS by Alignment of Laser and Mass Spectrometer" Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (2021)

Thompson, Jay M., Sebastien Meffre, and Leonid Danyushevsky. "Impact of air, laser pulse width and fluence on U–Pb dating of zircons by LA-ICPMS." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 33.2 (2018): 221-230.

Gilbert, Sarah, et al. "Matrix dependency for oxide production rates by LA-ICP-MS." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 32.3 (2017): 638-646.

Fietzke, Jan, and Matthias Frische. "Experimental evaluation of elemental behavior during LA-ICP-MS: influences of plasma conditions and limits of plasma robustness." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 31.1 (2016): 234-244.

Humayun, Munir, Fred A. Davis, and Marc M. Hirschmann. "Major element analysis of natural silicates by laser ablation ICP-MS." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 25.7 (2010): 998-1005.

Müller, Wolfgang, et al. "Initial performance metrics of a new custom-designed ArF excimer LA-ICPMS system coupled to a two-volume laser-ablation cell." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 24.2 (2009): 209-214.

Hu, Zhaochu, et al. "Signal enhancement in laser ablation ICP-MS by addition of nitrogen in the central channel gas." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 23.8 (2008): 1093-1101.

Liu, Yongsheng, et al. "In situ analysis of major and trace elements of anhydrous minerals by LA-ICP-MS without applying an internal standard." Chemical Geology 257.1-2 (2008): 34-43.

Guillong, Marcel, and Christoph A. Heinrich. "Sensitivity enhancement in laser ablation ICP-MS using small amounts of hydrogen in the carrier gas." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 22.12 (2007): 1488-1494.

Wang, Zhongke, Bodo Hattendorf, and Detlef Günther. "Analyte response in laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry." Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry 17.5 (2006): 641-651.

Klostermeier, Andre, et al. "New torch design for inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry with minimised gas consumption." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 20.4 (2005): 308-314.

Jackson, Simon E., and Detlef Günther. "The nature and sources of laser induced isotopic fractionation in laser ablation-multicollector-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 18.3 (2003): 205-212.

Guillong, Marcel, and Detlef Günther. "Effect of particle size distribution on ICP-induced elemental fractionation in laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 17.8 (2002): 831-837.

Gaboardi, Mabry, and Munir Humayun. "Elemental fractionation during LA-ICP-MS analysis of silicate glasses: implications for matrix-independent standardization." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 24.9 (2009): 1188-1197.

Günther, Detlef, et al. "Elemental analyses using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) of geological samples fused with Li2B4O7 and calibrated without matrix-matched standards." Microchimica Acta 136.3-4 (2001): 101-107.

Longerich, Henry P., Detlef Günther, and Simon E. Jackson. "Elemental fractionation in laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry." Fresenius' Journal of Analytical Chemistry 355.5-6 (1996): 538-542.

Fryer, Brian J., Simon E. Jackson, and Henry P. Longerich. "The design, operation and role of the laser-ablation microprobe coupled with an inductively coupled plasma; mass spectrometer (LAM-ICP-MS) in the earth sciences." The Canadian Mineralogist 33.2 (1995): 303-312.

Fryer, Brian J., Simon E. Jackson, and Henry P. Longerich. "The application of laser ablation microprobe-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LAM-ICP-MS) to in situ (U) Pb geochronology. " Chemical Geology 109.1-4 (1993): 1-8.

Jackson, Simon E., et al. "The application of laser-ablation microprobe; inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LAM-ICP-MS) to in situ trace-element determinations in minerals." The Canadian Mineralogist 30.4 (1992): 1049-1064.

Van Heuzen, A. A. "Analysis of solids by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)—I. matching with a glass matrix." Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy 46.14 (1991): 1803-1817.

Arrowsmith, Peter. "Laser ablation of solids for elemental analysis by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry." Analytical Chemistry 59.10 (1987): 1437-1444.

Applications

U-Pb Geochronology

Košler, Jan, et al. "U–Pb dating of detrital zircons for sediment provenance studies—a comparison of laser ablation ICPMS and SIMS techniques." Chemical Geology 182.2-4 (2002): 605-618.

Jackson, Simon E., et al. "The application of laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry to in situ U–Pb zircon geochronology." Chemical geology 211.1-2 (2004): 47-69.

Solari, Luigi A., et al. "U-Pb zircon geochronology with an integrated LA-ICP-MS microanalytical workstation: Achievements in precision and accuracy." Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research 34.1 (2010): 5-18.

McFarlane, Chris RM, and Yan Luo. "U-Pb Geochronology Using 193 nm Excimer LA-ICP-MS Optimized for In Situ Accessory Mineral Dating in Thin Sections." Geoscience Canada 39.3 (2012).

Horstwood, Matthew SA, et al. "Community‐derived standards for LA-ICP-MS U-(Th-)Pb geochronology–Uncertainty propagation, age interpretation and data reporting." Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research 40.3 (2016): 311-332.

Thompson, Jay, et al. "Matrix effects in Pb/U measurements during LA-ICP-MS analysis of the mineral apatite." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 31.6 (2016): 1206-1215.

Vermeesch, Pieter. "On the treatment of discordant detrital zircon U–Pb data." Geochronology 3.1 (2021): 247-257.

Carbonates

Sinclair, Daniel J., Leslie PJ Kinsley, and Malcolm T. McCulloch. "High resolution analysis of trace elements in corals by laser ablation ICP-MS." Geochimica et cosmochimica acta 62.11 (1998): 1889-1901.

Reference Materials

NIST 600 Series Glasses

Eggins, Stephen M., and J. Michael G. Shelley. "Compositional heterogeneity in NIST SRM 610‐617 glasses." Geostandards Newsletter 26.3 (2002): 269-286.

Jochum, Klaus Peter, et al. "Determination of reference values for NIST SRM 610–617 glasses following ISO guidelines." Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research 35.4 (2011): 397-429.

Jochum, Klaus Peter, et al. "Chemical Characterisation of the USGS Reference Glasses GSA-1G, GSC-1G, GSD-1G, GSE-1G, BCR-2G, BHVO-2G and BIR-1G Using EPMA, ID-TIMS, ID-ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS." Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research 29.3 (2005): 285-302.

Guillong, Marcel, et al. "Preliminary characterisation of new glass reference materials (GSA-1G, GSC-1G, GSD-1G and GSE-1G) by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry using 193 nm, 213 nm and 266 nm wavelengths." Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research 29.3 (2005): 315-331.

Jochum, Klaus Peter, et al. "MPI-DING glasses: New geological reference materials for in situ Pb isotope analysis." Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 6.10 (2005).

Jochum, Klaus Peter, et al. "MPI‐DING reference glasses for in situ microanalysis: New reference values for element concentrations and isotope ratios." Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 7.2 (2006).

Pressed Pellet Reference Materials

Garbe-Schönberg, Dieter, and Samuel Müller. "Nano-particulate pressed powder tablets for LA-ICP-MS." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 29.6 (2014): 990-1000.

GeoReM Database

Jochum, Klaus Peter, et al. "GeoReM: a new geochemical database for reference materials and isotopic standards." Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research 29.3 (2005): 333-338.

Related Topics

Data Reduction Software

While Norris Scientific develops and sells the LADR data reduction software, there exists a wide range of software packages for data reduction of LA–ICP–MS data sets.

ET_Redux

Glitter

Iolite

LADR

LAMTrace

Sills

UPb Age

UranOS

The following papers outline the fundamentals of data reduction.

Longerich, Henry P., Simon E. Jackson, and Detlef Günther. "Inter-laboratory note. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric transient signal data acquisition and analyte concentration calculation." Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 11.9 (1996): 899-904.

Aitchison, John. "The statistical analysis of compositional data." Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Methodological) 44.2 (1982): 139-160.

Aitchison, John, et al. "Logratio analysis and compositional distance." Mathematical Geology 32.3 (2000): 271-275.