Abstract
This study aims to investigate the potential benefits of adapting the ablating grid in two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in a single pulse mapping mode. The goals include enhancing the accuracy of surface sampling of element distributions, improving the control of depth-related sampling, smoothing the post-ablation surface for layer-by-layer sampling, and increasing the image quality. To emulate the capabilities of currently unavailable laser ablation stages, a computational approach using geometrical modeling was employed to compound square or round experimentally obtained 3D crater profiles on variable orthogonal or hexagonal ablation grids. These grids were optimized by minimizing surface roughness as a function of average ablation depth, followed by simulating the post-ablation surface and related image quality. An online application (https://laicpms-apps.ki.si/webapps/home/) is available for users to virtually experiment with contracting/expanding orthogonal and hexagonal ablation grids for generic 3D super-Gaussian laser crater profiles, allowing for exploration of the resulting post-ablation surface layer roughness and depth.