Contaminants, laser probe determination

Single-step LDI/FTMS was used in the analysis of the source and chemical identity of chro-mophores present in PE lamination [216]. The technique allowed both sampling the surface and depthprofiling with high spatial resolution and accurate mass determination. Also laser-induced thermal desorption FTMS of multilayer thin films of a computer hard disk has been reported [217]. LD-FTMS could be used for the identification of fluorinated lubricants on magnetic storage media [188]. Laser Probe FTMS analysis may also probe surface and interstitial contaminants. 

The laser-based methods discussed thus far can be used to probe surface and interstitial contaminants as well as for the direct determination of additives in a complex matrix. It is now common to have a CCD camera and video display that gives a microscopic view of the sample when it is in the mass spectrometer. This allows contaminants, defects, and areas of interest to be observed and manipulated while under the probing beW of the laser (25). A number of industrial examples have I ved that direct Laser Probe FT/MS analyses can rapidly determine many additives directly, even when the combination of laborious classical wet chemical techniques with other modem instrumental methods have proved difficult and time consuming. 

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