The new device, a Neoma Multicollector ICP-MS/MS with mass prefilter and collision cell from ThermoFisher Scientific, is being installed at the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy. This type of device has only been on the market for about a year. Prof. Dr. Münker and his AG Geo/Kosmochemie have been waiting for this new device and want to use it as soon as possible to develop new methods for isotope analysis of geological samples. The device is to be coupled with the existing laser ablation unit in order to be able to carry out spatially high-resolution in-situ measurements.

In this device, either a sample solution or an aerosol generated by laser ablation is introduced in an inductively coupled argon plasma. At a temperature of approx. 8000K in the plasma, almost all elements are ionized. The ions then enter the high vacuum of the mass spectrometer via an electrostatic lens system. A special feature of the new device is that interfering elements can be removed by a mass filter and a collision cell. The large magnet separates the ions according to their mass/charge ratio and detects them using a detector. 

The scientific objectives and the description of the predecessor (without collision cell), which also exists in exactly the same form in the same laboratory, can be found on the Institute's equipment page.