Once a laser induced aerosol is generated it must be transported from the laser chamber to the ICP spectrometer. The dynamics associated with transporting the aerosol to an inductively coupled plasma will have a significant effect on all subsequent data. Sample chambers designed for laser ablation have traditionally had large, cylindrical volumes (20cc to 80cc). The driving force behind these large volume designs is primarily based on the desire to fit many samples (and standards) in the cell at one time, enhancing analytical throughput. Under normal operating conditions the carrier gas flow through these cells range from 0.5L/min. to 1.5L min-1. (8cc to 25cc sec.-1). For these conventional sample cells the time required for complete evacuation of an aerosol generated by a single laser pulse is > 6 seconds.

The geometry and flow characteristics of the SuperCell^TM has been specifically designed to enable rapid evacuation of the laser generated aerosol in a large format cell. Though the cell volume is 33cm³ the aerosol evacuation profiles are similar to sample cells with dramatically smaller volumes. In fact transient signal evacuation is typically complete in <2 seconds across the entire sample cell working area.