A Review of Near‐Field Laser Ablation for High‐Resolution Nanoscale Surface Analysis

Abstract

Traditional laser ablation is a well-known method of solid sampling for surface characterization, but the resolution of the technique has been limited by the diameter of the incident laser beam and is typically on the order of 100-200 mm. Unfortunately, this microscale resolution can be too low to characterize isolated surface features that have submicron dimensions. Near-field laser ablation is an emerging analytical tool for nanoscale, high-resolution surface analysis. In this review, applications of near-field laser ablation for solid sample introduction are explored. Also, a descriptive overview of the near-field region is given, and methods of generating a near-field region and several processes for tip manufacture are described.

Tip-Enhanced Laser Ablation Sample Transfer for Biomolecule Mass Spectrometry

“…The 600 nm to 1 μm crater diameters are generally consistent with the crater sizes observed in previous studies using aperture [26] and apertureless tips [28]. The relative contributions of thermal and electric field effects remains an open question [48] and will be addressed in future studies.…”

Tip-enhanced ablation and ionization mass spectrometry for nanoscale chemical analysis

“…2 , B to F). This is because the laser energy mainly heats the electrons to high temperatures and is weakly transferred to the lattice during the fs-laser–induced near-field ablation, reducing damage to adjacent surfaces ( 33 ). By performing more than 800 pulses of fs-laser, the diameters of the craters became slightly enlarged until it reached about 80 nm ( Fig.…”

High resolution laser mass spectrometry bioimaging

“…Near-field optics can be used to localize electromagnetic radiation below the diffraction limit [108, 109]. Ablation can be accomplished in aperture mode with an optical fiber probe that transmits the laser light to a sharp tip or in apertureless mode that uses a sharp conductive tip as an electromagnetic antenna for the laser light [110].…”