The Perkin-Elmer Elan 'XL' format (*.xl) is generated by control software of ICP-MS instruments from Perkin-Elmer such as Elan 6x00 or Elan DRC-e.
When using this format in LA-iMageS, each dataset should be placed in a folder containing the *.xl files corresponding to each data line taken by the ICP-MS instrument. The following listing shows an example of a valid XL file.
Intensity Vs Time, Counts Per Second Time in Seconds ,SeO96,SO48,C13 0.,0.,290.0050460878,1250.093757031 0.,0.,280.00470407903,1230.090780699 0.,0.,630.0238149002,1150.079355475 0.,0.,2010.2424352377,1230.090780699
The name of the folder will be used as the dataset's name. Each line file must contain a number that indicates the order in which each line has been acquired by the ICP-MS instrument. For example, if you have a dataset with 10 lines, a valid set of names can be: line 1.xl, line 2.xl, line 3.xl, line 4.xl, line 5.xl, line 6.xl, line 7.xl, line 8.xl, line 9.xl and line 10.xl.
Additionally, the dataset folder may contain two configuration files: parameters.conf and positions.txt.
The parameters.conf file is used to store the ICP-MS data acquisition parameters:
This file is optional and it is used by the Load Data operation in order to automatically load the acquisition parameters. If this file is not present in the dataset's directory, user must explicitly introduce them. The following listing shows an example of a valid parameters.conf file.
standard=C13 ablation.speed=0.06 acquisition.time=0.324 space.interval=0.12
The positions.txt file is used to store the physical position of each line in the instrument during the ablation process. The following listing shows an example of a valid positions.txt file.
LINE 16.5460,31.3610,4.4210 17.5140,31.3610,4.4210 LINE 16.1270,31.2410,4.4210 17.9880,31.2410,4.4110 LINE 15.9720,31.1210,4.4150 18.7480,31.1210,4.3550 LINE 15.6940,31.0010,4.4150 19.0860,31.0010,4.3250
This format consists in blocks that starts with by keyword LINE followed by at least two lines of three comma-separated numbers (X, Y, Z). The first and last lines of numbers represent the initial and final positions of the corresponding line. There must be the same number of LINE blocks and *.xl files.
This file is optional and it is used by the LA-iMageS software in order to read line's positions and determine whether they are horizontal or vertical: if each line has the same X position and Y initial and final positions are different, it means that it is vertical; otherwise, if each line has the same Y position and X initial and final positions are different, it means that it is horizontal. If this file is not present in the dataset's directory, then La-iMageS will consider that lines are horizontal and will automatically generate its positions based on the acquisition parameters.