Pre-meeting Workshop 1

LA-ICPMS: Principles and Applications

Leonid Danyushevsky (U. Tasmania)

This one-day workshop will provide a comprehensive overview of the principles of laser ablation ICPMS and common applications, focusing mainly on the field of geosciences.

The topics covered include: an overview of the main differences between solution ICPMS and LA-ICPMS; principles of ablation processes relevant to developing robust analytical applications; an overview of available laser ablation microprobes; aspects of sample cell designs and their impact on the quality of analytical data; the importance of the design of the interface between laser microprobe and ICPMS; an overview of ICPMS instruments used for laser ablation; principles of quantification of LA-ICPMS data; an overview of the main sources of drift in sensitivities and elemental fractionation in LA-ICPMS, choice of standard reference materials (SRMs) and the need for matrix matching between the SRMs used and the unknowns; an overview of the sources of analytical uncertainty and approaches to uncertainty propagation in LA-ICPMS; an overview of currently available data reduction software for LA-ICPMS; an overview of several commonly used applications, such as multi-element analysis, imaging of elemental distributions, U/Pb dating, analysis of fluid inclusions, and analysis Pb isotopes using quadrupole ICPMS.

The workshop is aimed at both beginners and more advanced users.