Influence of UO 2 crystal orientation on laser ablation performance

Crystallographic orientation dependence deteriorates the performance of surface analysis methods such as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and focused ion beam (FIB). This study explores the corresponding potential challenges of laser ablation (LA) as a powerful sampling tool for inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). To this end, three UO single crystals of different orientation as well as polycrystalline UO were produced and characterized. Subsequently, a ns-laser ablation system was employed to study laser-matter interaction in detail. Firing the laser continuously at 1 Hz with various single shot fluence (2, 4, 6, 8, 12 J cm ) for diverse periods created LA craters impacted by cumulative fluence between 50 and 650 J cm . Repeated LA experiments on the (100) plane of a UO single crystal at the beginning and end of the entire study revealed highly reproducible (