Simultaneous ion luminescence imaging and spectroscopy of individual aerosol particles with external proton or helium microbeams

Simultaneous microscopic imaging and spectroscopy of individual aerosol particles were performed with an external microbeam. Visible luminescence induced by the external microbeam was successfully used as a probe to detect organic contaminants in the targets. Combined ion luminescence (IL)/particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) analysis of the aerosol targets revealed microscopic chemical and elemental composition distributions under ambient atmospheric conditions. The simple confocal micro-optics for the IL spectroscopy and microscopic imaging were sufficiently sensitive for detecting these molecules at sub-parts per million concentrations and at a wavelength resolution of less than 5 nm. The IL spectra were monitored to prevent severe damage to the samples. Furthermore, our IL system has the advantage that it is simple to add to a conventional micro-PIXE system.