File Name : figures1.png Caption : lods obtained with helium (black), nitrogen (blue) or argon (red) as carrier gas using 19 j/cm2 and a 90 µm spot for la of nist srm 610. these data were calculated according to longerich et al.39 from the sensitivities given in figure 2. File Name : figures2.png Caption : ni-skimmer cone after one day of measurement using only nitrogen. after a second day of measurement using helium, the opening was widened by 10 %. File Name : figures3_new.png Caption : 238u+/232th+ ratio measured for 8 j/cm2 in nitrogen at 1.00(4) on average (top), helium at 1.01(3) (middle) and argon at 1.05(8) (bottom) with 600 pulses at 10 hz on nist srm 610. the time window illustrates the 60 s of ablation without background nor washout time. the 238u+ transient signal corresponding to the experiment presented here can be visualized in figure 4 at the corresponding fluence and carrier gas. File Name : figures4_new.png Caption : 238u+/232th+ ratio measured for 5 j/cm2 in nitrogen at 0.99(3) on average (top), helium at 1.01(3) (middle) and argon at 1.05(5) (bottom) with 600 pulses at 10 hz on nist srm 610. the time window illustrates the 60 s of ablation without background nor washout time. the 238u+ transient signal corresponding to the experiment presented here can be visualized in figure 4 at the corresponding fluence and carrier gas. File Name : figures5.png Caption : quantification of nist srm 612 using nitrogen and helium as carrier gases and nist srm 610 as calibration standard. 40ca was used as internal standard and a fluence of 18 j/cm2 was applied in combination with the mpfac. error bars represent the standard deviation of 6 replicate analysis, while the standard deviations of the reference values are indicated by the light green areas. File Name : figures6.png Caption : quantification of usgs bcr-2g using nitrogen and helium as carrier gases and nist srm 610 as calibration standard. 40ca was used as internal standard and a fluence of 18 j/cm2 was applied in combination with the mpfac. error bars represent the standard deviation of 3 replicate analysis, while the standard deviations of the reference values are indicated by the light green areas. File Name : figures7.png Caption : quantification of usgs gsd-1g using nitrogen and helium as carrier gases and nist srm 610 as calibration standard. 40ca was used as internal standard and a fluence of 18 j/cm2 was applied in combination with the mpfac. error bars represent the standard deviation of 3 replicate analysis, while the standard deviations of the reference values are indicated by the light green areas. File Name : figures8.png Caption : stem images of laser-generated aerosol formed in nitrogen (a), helium (b) and argon (c) in a two-volume cell. the scale bar is 50 nm. the observation of the primary particles can be compared to figure 9b), figure 10b) and figure 11b), respectively for the same magnification and carrier gas but using the cylindrical ablation cell.