Peltier-cooled cryogenic laser ablation cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9679753-B2
Application number	US-201414774495-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2014
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

Peltier-cooled cryogenic laser ablation cells for sample preparation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laser ablation cell, comprising:
a first Peltier cooler;
a second Peltier cooler;
a first controller configured to maintain the first Peltier cooler at a first temperature;
a second controller configured to adjust the second Peltier cooler over a temperature range from the first temperature to a second temperature; and
a sample surface in thermal communication with at least one of the first Peltier cooler and the second Peltier cooler to promote cryogenic cooling of a sample during laser ablation of the sample.

2. The laser ablation cell of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first Peltier cooler and the second Peltier cooler is configured to cool the sample to a temperature of less than about −20° C.

3. The laser ablation cell of claim 1 , further comprising an inlet fluidly connected to a source of an inert carrier gas.

4. The laser ablation cell of claim 3 , wherein the inert carrier gas comprises helium.

5. The laser ablation cell of claim 3 , wherein the cell is configured to promote laminar flow of the inert carrier gas across the sample surface.

6. The laser ablation cell of claim 1 , further comprising a 12V pump in communication with at least one of the first Peltier cooler and the second Peltier cooler.

7. The laser ablation cell of claim 1 , further comprising a heat blocking gel applied to at least one of the first Peltier cooler and the second Peltier cooler.

8. The laser ablation cell of claim 1 , wherein the first Peltier cooler and the second Peltier cooler are connected by a cooling circuit.

9. The laser ablation cell of claim 1 , wherein the first Peltier cooler and the second Peltier cooler are cascaded.

10. A sample analysis system, comprising:
a Peltier-cooled laser ablation sample preparation cell comprising:
a first Peltier-cooled stage;
a second Peltier-cooled stage;
a first controller configured to maintain the first Peltier-cooled stage at a first temperature;
a second controller configured to adjust the second Peltier-cooled stage over a temperature range from the first temperature to a second temperature; and
a sample surface in thermal communication with at least one of the first and second Peltier-cooled stages to promote cryogenic cooling of a biological sample during laser ablation of the biological sample; and

a biological sample analyzer fluidly connected downstream of the Peltier-cooled laser ablation sample preparation cell.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the analyzer comprises an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS).

12. The laser ablation cell of claim 10 , wherein the first Peltier-cooled stage and the second Peltier-cooled stage are connected by a cooling circuit.

13. The laser ablation cell of claim 10 , wherein the first Peltier-cooled stage and the second Peltier-cooled stage are cascaded.

14. A method for sample analysis, comprising:
ablating a biological sample in a Peltier-cooled laser ablation cell having a first Peltier-cooled stage and a second Peltier-cooled stage; and
delivering ablated biological sample material to a detector.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the detector comprises an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS).

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising adjusting a temperature of the second Peltier-cooled stage to facilitate phase analysis of the biological sample.

Assignees

• Univ Massachusetts

Inventors

• Hannigan Robyn
• Darrah Thomas
• Peri Francesco

Classifications

• F25B2321/021

  Control thereof · CPC title

• F25B2321/0252

  by liquids or two-phase fluids · CPC title

• H01J49/0468 Primary

  with means for heating or cooling the sample · CPC title

• F25B21/02

  using Peltier effect; using Nernst-Ettinghausen effect · CPC title

• H01J49/0409

  Sample holders or containers (containers for retaining a material to be analyzed, B01L3/50, for DNA, C12Q1/6834, for biological materials, G01N33/543) · CPC title