Femtosecond laser ablation multicollector ICPMS analysis of uranium isotopes in NIST glass

We utilized femtosecond laser ablation together with multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to measure the uranium isotopic content of NIST 61 x ( x = 0, 2, 4, 6) glasses. The uranium content of these glasses is a linear two-component mixing between isotopically natural uranium and the isotopically depleted spike used in preparing the glasses. Laser ablation results match extremely well, generally within a few ppm, with solution analysis following sample dissolution and chemical separation. In addition to isotopic data, sample utilization efficiency measurements indicate that over 1% of ablated uranium atoms reach a mass spectrometer detector, making this technique extremely efficient. Laser sampling also allows for spatial analysis and our data indicate that rare uranium concentration inhomogeneities exist in NIST 616 glass. We utilized femtosecond laser ablation and multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to measure the uranium isotopic content of NIST 61 x ( x = 0, 2, 4, 6) glasses.