The Maturation of Laser Ablation

In an interview at SciX, which took place in Sparks, Nevada, Alessandro De Giacomo, a professor at the University of Bari Aldo Moro in Italy and a longtime editorial board member of Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, described how this year’s slate of selected papers came together and what the choices suggest about the direction of laser-based spectroscopy.

According to De Giacomo, the selection was not left to a single reviewer or a small committee. It was carried out by the full editorial board and editorial team, a jury he put at 35 international members. That meant the papers reflect a collective judgment from an international panel rather than an individual editor’s preference.

Three papers emerged from this year’s process, and De Giacomo noted that they differ in character. The first is a technical paper focused on the use of intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) detectors. Rather than reporting a new application, it addresses how to use the instrumentation correctly, a practical concern for laboratories that rely on gated ICCD cameras to capture time-resolved emission from laser-induced plasmas.

The other two selections are application papers, which De Giacomo called very interesting. One uses laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), and the other uses laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Both techniques begin with a laser pulse that removes a small amount of material from a sample, but they diverge from there: LIBS analyzes the light emitted by the resulting plasma, whereas LA-ICP-MS transports the ablated material into an ICP for mass spectrometric detection. The applications are not detailed in this portion of the interview, but De Giacomo singled them out as examples of the techniques in use.

Taken together, De Giacomo said, the papers point to a broader trend. In his view, laser ablation is becoming a very mature technology, one that is now ready to support very advanced applications, and this year’s selections illustrate exactly that progression. The pairing of an instrumentation-focused paper with two application-driven studies reflects a field that is refining its fundamentals while extending its reach.

Further Reading

(1) De Giacomo, A.; Workman, J., Jr.; Wetzel, W. Alessandro De Giacomo on LIBS, Plasma Physics, and Nanoparticle Size. Spectroscopy Online, 2026. https://www.spectroscopyonline.com/view/alessandro-de-giacomo-on-libs-plasma-physics-and-nanoparticle-size (accessed October 12, 2026).

(2) De Giacomo, A.; Workman, J., Jr.; Wetzel, W. Beyond the Plasma: Alessandro De Giacomo on Laser–Matter Interaction and Nanoparticle Tagging. Spectroscopy Online, 2026. https://www.spectroscopyonline.com/view/beyond-the-plasma-alessandro-de-giacomo-on-laser-matter-interaction-and-nanoparticle-tagging (accessed October 12, 2026).