Today, ICP-MS analysis of any type of liquid samples is easily accomplished and in routine laboratories around the globe, hundreds and thousands of samples are analyzed each day. Laser ablation (LA) coupled with ICP-MS, in contrast, is still a niche application mainly applied in geological research and material science focussed labs. However, laser ablation is a simple and versatile approach to not only analyze solid samples directly without digestion, but also to get highly valuable information about the spatial distribution of analytes in certain sample types, which can help to tackle new challenges, such as imaging of single cells and tissue sections.
