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PreprintCC BYChemRxiv

Continuous-wave laser ablation enables high-resolution ambient mass spectrometry imaging

  • William J. C. Francis1
  • Milena Micic1
  • Lucy Noyes1,2
  • David Blair1
  • Anna Chauvet1
  • Lauren Ford2
  • Stefania Maneta-Stavrakaki2
  • Dániel Simon3,4
  • Ioannis Bitharas5
  • Zoltan Takáts2,3,4
  • Robert T. Murray1
5 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Physics, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London, United Kingdom, SW7 2BW
  2. 2Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Imperial College London, Du Cane Road, London, United Kingdom, W12 0NN
  3. 3Institute for Multimodal Imaging of Intercellular Communication
  4. 4Universität Regensburg
  5. 5Institute of Mechanical, Process and Energy Engineering, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, EH14 4AS
Open at sourceDOICite

Abstract

Continuous-wave lasers are generally not considered for applications demanding precision ablation, because sustained heating in bulk tissue causes extensive thermal damage. Here we show that this limitation does not apply to thin sections: a 2.91 µm continuous-wave laser leaves no resolvable heat-affected zone beyond the ablation track on 10 µm thick cryosections, a confinement consistent with heat sinking vertically into the glass slide rather than diffusing laterally. This defines a distinct sampling regime in which confined material removal by a continuous-wave mid-infrared laser preserves the sample morphology for post-hoc staining and optical imaging while generating a laminar plume well suited for aspiration into the atmospheric inlet of a mass spectrometer. Here we demonstrate matrix-free ambient mass spectrometry imaging at 3 µm pixel size with a fibre-delivered beam, uniting few micron scale sampling, broad chemical coverage, and same-section co-registration on a readily adoptable platform assembled entirely from commercial components.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{francis2026continuouswave,
  title = {{Continuous-wave laser ablation enables high-resolution ambient mass spectrometry imaging}},
  author = {William J. C. Francis and Milena Micic and Lucy Noyes and David Blair and Anna Chauvet and Lauren Ford and Stefania Maneta-Stavrakaki and Dániel Simon and Ioannis Bitharas and Zoltan Takáts and Robert T. Murray},
  howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15010015/v1},
  url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010015/v1},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Continuous-wave laser ablation enables high-resolution ambient mass spectrometry imaging
AU  - William J. C. Francis
AU  - Milena Micic
AU  - Lucy Noyes
AU  - David Blair
AU  - Anna Chauvet
AU  - Lauren Ford
AU  - Stefania Maneta-Stavrakaki
AU  - Dániel Simon
AU  - Ioannis Bitharas
AU  - Zoltan Takáts
AU  - Robert T. Murray
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/07
PB  - ChemRxiv
DO  - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15010015/v1
UR  - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010015/v1
AB  - Continuous-wave lasers are generally not considered for applications demanding precision ablation, because sustained heating in bulk tissue causes extensive thermal damage. Here we show that this limitation does not apply to thin sections: a 2.91 µm continuous-wave laser leaves no resolvable heat-affected zone beyond the ablation track on 10 µm thick cryosections, a confinement consistent with heat sinking vertically into the glass slide rather than diffusing laterally. This defines a distinct sampling regime in which confined material removal by a continuous-wave mid-infrared laser preserves the sample morphology for post-hoc staining and optical imaging while generating a laminar plume well suited for aspiration into the atmospheric inlet of a mass spectrometer. Here we demonstrate matrix-free ambient mass spectrometry imaging at 3 µm pixel size with a fibre-delivered beam, uniting few micron scale sampling, broad chemical coverage, and same-section co-registration on a readily adoptable platform assembled entirely from commercial components.
ER  -