Laser ablation studies using RIS

A resonance ionization mass spectroscopy system which includes a Nd:YAG laser microprobe, multiphoton resonance ionization, a time-of-flight mass spectrometer, and a novel data acquisition system is described. The system was used to measure the relative population of thermally populated energy levels and the velocity distribution of samarium atoms vaporized by the laser microprobe to determine the excitation and kinetic temperatures.