Membrane-based purge gas and sample transfer for laser ablation sample processing

A method for controlling flow of gas from a laser ablation cell, comprising:

• transferring a sample transfer stream containing a plurality of sample particles and at least one gas from a laser ablation system to a gas exchange membrane transfer line having a length of at least six feet;
• introducing a sweep gas to the gas exchange membrane transfer line;
• separating substantially all of the at least one gas from the plurality of sample particles via exchange with at least a portion of the sweep gas within the gas exchange membrane transfer line;
• and
• transferring the sample transfer stream through the gas exchange membrane transfer line to an inductively-coupled plasma analysis device.

A system for controlling flow of gas from a laser ablation system, comprising:

• a laser ablation system configured to generate a sample transfer stream through laser ablation of a sample and introduction of a carrier gas to flow the ablated sample from the laser ablation system;
• an inductively-coupled plasma analysis device configured to measure one or more analytes in the sample transfer stream;
• and
• a gas exchange membrane transfer line fluidically coupled between the laser ablation system and the inductively-coupled plasma analysis device, the gas exchange membrane transfer line configured to replace gas in the sample transfer stream with sweep gas via gas exchange across a membrane of the gas exchange membrane transfer line, wherein the gas exchange membrane transfer line has a length of at least six feet to replace substantially all the gas in the sample transfer stream with sweep gas prior to receipt by the inductively-coupled plasma analysis device.