Analytical microprobes: getting more out of less

The arsenal of techniques capable of getting chemical information from reduced spatial domains has been a constant in the analytical instrumentation. Such evolution has run in parallel with the extraordinary advances in the field of microscopy that have produced a deep impact in our vision of the world and the relationship between functionality and molecular structure. It was obvious since our access to the microscopic world that even the most homogeneous structures where far from being considered as such when the zoom was on. Microbeam analysts are challenged daily by the sophisticated problems which arise with our high-tech world, and the shocking voracity of bioanalysis for any tool capable of a better understanding of our living systems. Since the early days of modern spectrochemical analysis where the capabilities of arc/spark to perform chemical analysis localized over an area of several square millimeters, a long journey has been run. One of the main advances has been the happy marriage of such techniques with mass spectrometry to get the best of both worlds. Nowadays, lasers, electron guns, ion guns, discharge lamps, electrospray jets, metal capillaries and many other approaches are used to create ions from reduced sample areas that are further sorted and detected in a mass spectrometer. The applications are still growing and it is still difficult to see if there is a limit. The talk will provide an overview of analytical microprobes focusing in those involving lasers and gas guns. Thus, laser-ionization mass spectrometry, secondary ion mass spectrometry or low-energy ion scattering will be commented and compared with some other. Selected applications will be shown trying to emphasize the strengths of the techniques, without forgetting the inherent weaknesses of each one.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

A "quick look" at ultrafast ablation using fs-resolved phase-change microscopy

A pump-probe phase-change microscope with fs temporal resolution has been used to understand the transformation induced in the sample surface as a consequence of laser-matter interaction.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Guiding the Development of Efficient and Durable Electrodes for Electrochemical Energy Conversion Applications through Advanced Ion Beam Analysis

Surface-sensitive ion beam techniques, such as Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) and Low-Energy Ion Scattering (LEIS), are making significant contributions to further our understanding of the materials’ performance and the degradation processes that occur under operating conditions. In this contribution, we explore how recent instrumental developments and analytical approaches have boosted the application of these powerful techniques for the characterization of surfaces and interfaces in energy conversion and storage devices.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Characterization of Laser-Induced Plasmas Of Organic Compounds by spatially- and temporally resolved optical emission spectrometry

The large majority of laser-induced plasmas experiments are performed on metals in air at atmospheric pressure, where recombination mechanisms do not play a significant role, as the primary emission lines of interest are significantly more intense than those derived from recombination with air, particularly those yielding oxides. Due to the large number of electronic transitions commonly attainable on metals, many intense emission lines are recorded and different regions of interest useful for identification and quantification purposes may be assigned. The main difficulties in the interpretation of the molecular emission of species containing C, N, O or H relies on the questions concerning their origin: direct release from native bonds or recombination with ambient constituents. In other words: does the resultant spectrum mimic the structure of a molecule or the molecular information gets lost in the course of the secondary reactions? Considering that the spectrum observed is always a convolution of primary and secondary processes, experiments in vacuum or in controlled atmospheres may help to address such questions. The present work shows detailed experiments where spatially- and temporally-resolved optical emission spectroscopy of laser-produced plasmas on organic compounds has been performed. The experiments cover a pressure range from 1000 mbar to 10-3 mbar that allows a precise observation of the effect of the surrounding atmosphere in the formation of species by recombination.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Femtosecond time-resolved phase-change microscopy and ablation threshold calculations to understand ultrafast laser ablation

El trabajo recoge experimentos realizados en una configuración sonda-prueba haciendo uso de un láser de femtosegundos, con el objetivo de comprender los fenómenos de ablación de materiales sólidos ras irradiación con láseres de pulso ultracorto.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy with laser pulses in the interval between 35 fs – 4 ps

This works presents the laser ablation studies for metals such as Chromium, Titanium, Iron and Copper by ultrashort laser pulses under pulse-width from 35 fs to 4 ps.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Laser-Induced Plasma Spectroscopy Of Organic Compounds: Understanding Fragmentation Processes Using Ion-Photon Coincidence Measurements

Comunicación enviada a la 8th Euromditerranean Conference on Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, presentada en forma de charla ora

Laser-induced breakdown spectrometry with laser pulses in femtoseconds to picoseconds regime and their influence on ablation quality

The communication is focused on the influence of the pulse width, ranging from femtosecond to picosecond, on the laser – matter interaction during laser ablation of solid materials. Modifications in the stretcher-compressor do allow the continuous selection of amplified pulses in the range between 35 fs to 4 ps. Time constants, fluence threshold, and multi-channel spectra have been measured out of the generated plasmas.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. CTQ2017-82137-

Time-resolved laser-induced phase change microscopy: understanding laser-matter effects at the femtosecond scale

LA comunicación describe el desarrollo instrumental y las aplicaciones con un microscopio de cambio de fase con resolución de femtosegundos que se ha puesto a punto en el LAboratorio LAser de la UMAUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Characterization of size-sorted particulated matter collected on solid substrates by laser-ionization mass spectrometry and laser-induced breakdown spectrometry

Resumen de trabajos realizados mediante excitación láser de material particulado y su posterior análisis mediante espectroscopía óptica de emisión o ionización.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech