Femtosecond Versus Nanosecond Laser Pulse Duration for Laser Ablation Chemical Analysis

Laser ablation for direct solid sample chemical analysis has advanced over the past 50 years with applications in many disciplines, including environmental, geological, medical, energy, security, and others. Although the choice of laser is still highly dependent on the application requirements, there are distinct fundamental effects attributed to the laser pulse duration that drive the ablation sampling process. An overview of nanosecond and femtosecond laser ablation is presented with respect to analysis based on the optically induced plasma at the sample surface (such as laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy or laser ablation molecular isotopic spectrometry) and transport of the ablated mass aerosol to an inductively coupled plasma.