Iolite

The Iolite Project: www.iolite.org.au

Iolite* is a software package originally intended for deconvolution of data obtained by laser ablation ICPMS (although now also used for TIMS and solution ICPMS data too). Developed over a period of years by various members of the Melbourne Isotope and trace element group, and continually supported, we hope that Iolite will enrich your laser ablation experience…

Current release: version 2.15, release date 21 Oct 2011

News
A new Iolite paper has just been published:
Paton, C., Hellstrom, J., Paul, B., Woodhead, J and Hergt, J. (2011) Iolite: freeware for the visualisation and processing of mass spectrometer data. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry doi: 10.1039/c1ja10172b.

History and design philosophy Laser ablation ICP-MS is a uniquely powerful technique for the spatially-resolved analysis of geological materials, but has been hindered by the absence of suitably flexible tools for data processing and visualisation. With the development of Iolite we have tried to address this deficiency. Key design parameters include an entirely generic format which will accept data from any instrument (quad or multi-collector, or both simultaneously), full data control and visualisation at all stages of processing, and comprehensive imaging capabilities (click here for examples). In addition we believe that deconvolution of laser ablation data should not take you hours, should not involve any hidden operations, and should not cost you a fortune! Iolite is freeware and all the Data Reduction Schemes, where all the interesting stuff happens, and statistical methods are open source and are designed to be modified/written by the end-user to suit their own specific tasks. Iolite is supplied with several example DRS modules including two of our own ‘flagship’ modules for trace element analysis/mapping and U/Pb geochronology respectively. Iolite was developed from an original concept by John Hellstrom, under a Hermon Slade Foundation Grant to Janet Hergt and Jon Woodhead. Ongoing development is by John Hellstrom, Chad Paton (now at STARPLAN), Bence Paul, and Jon Woodhead with the assistance and input of members of the Melbourne Isotope and Trace Element Geochemistry Group. Iolite is a rapidly evolving entity and we value your input so please sign up to our forum/wiki. Access the wiki for the Iolite manual, example files, and detailed description of the U-Pb geochronology and Trace element Data Reduction Modules. Access the forum for discussion, feature requests, bug reports etc...The blog will be used to provide regular Iolite feature demonstrations.

Instruments supported and export formats Nu Plasma MC-ICPMS: Iolite will import Nu '.run' files. As of version 1.4.2009, the Nu Plasma control software now includes improved time-stamping (thanks Phil!). Iolite will import files created in both this and previous versions. Varian quad ICPMS: Iolite will import Varian 'iso.prn' files Agilent 4500/7500/7700: Iolite will import Agilent .csv files.
Thermo X-series: Iolite will import X-Series .csv files.
Perkin Elmer Elan : Iolite will import Perkin Elmer .xl files in version 1.03 and above: Neptune, Element2 and even Triton data! a beta version of the Nu AttoM importer is included in version 2.0 and above We are happy to consider writing import modules for any ‘mainstream’ ICPMS instruments if example export file formats can be provided. Distribution and a few references Iolite’s host environment, Igor Pro, runs natively on recent versions of both Apple Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Igor Pro was chosen for its smooth handling of data sets containing tens of independent channels at hundreds of thousands of points each, its high-level compiled macro language and its extensive 2- and 3-dimensional data visualisation capabilities. Igor Pro is available from Wavemetrics as a fully-functional 30-day trial version, after which time it will revert to a limited-functionality demonstration version until registered. The Iolite package is available as freeware using the download button above. Although the underlying source code is not released, the plug-in Data Reduction Modules are open-source by design and form the environment where all user-defined time-resolved data processing takes place. Iolite itself has been extensively tested on recent (OS-X) versions of the Apple platform. While we fully expect it to perform correctly on PCs running Windows this has not been tested as rigorously. Iolite development at Melbourne has involved many people and much time and effort over a period of years (and is continuing on a daily basis). If you are happy with the software and use it regularly we would greatly appreciate appropriate references to our papers in your publications.. Woodhead, J., Hellstrom, J., Hergt, J., Greig, A. & Maas, R (2007) Isotopic and elemental imaging of geological materials by laser ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma mass spectrometry. Journal of Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research, 31, 331-343. Hellstrom, J., Paton, C., Woodhead, J and Hergt, J (2008) Iolite: software for spatially resolved LA-(quad and MC) ICPMS analysis. Mineralogical Association of Canada short course series 40 , 343-348. Woodhead, J., Hellstrom, J., Paton, C., Hergt, J., Greig, A., and Maas, R (2008) A guide to depth profiling and imaging applications of ICPMS. Mineralogical Association of Canada short course series 40, 135-145. Paton, C., Hellstrom, J., Paul, B., Woodhead, J and Hergt, J. (2011) Iolite: freewre for the visualisation and processing of mass spectrometer data. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectromtery doi: 10.1039/c1ja10172b.

Paton, C., J. D. Woodhead, J. C. Hellstrom, J. M. Hergt, A. Greig, and R. Maas (2010), Improved laser ablation U-Pb zircon geochronology through robust downhole fractionation correction, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 11, Q0AA06, doi:10.1029/2009GC002618. Version history
2.15 addresses several issues, including:
An issue where propagated errors were not relative but absolute.
The Trace_Elements_IS DRS can now load tables with filenames that were causing errors
Several importers have been updated, including the X series importer (can now import solution analyses), the Nu Plasma importer (can now handle French months) along with other minor improvements

Users can now add their own procedures to the Iolite menu. The procedure file containing the menu code is now unencrypted and if you can program in Igor, you can add items/shortcuts to the Iolite menu.

Another common issue that has been addressed is the installation errors Windows Vista and Windows7 users were encountering. The Iolite installer (the file called "Run me to install this version.pxp) has now been altered to avoid the permissions errors that occurred when Igor was not run as an administrator. Users that have successfully installed previous version of Iolite on Windows Vista or 7 machines may need to perform an additional step for this version only. Please see the forum (http://iolite.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/forum/) if you are a Windows7 or Vista user.

2.13. Version 2.13 provides a fix for image issues that arose after the release of Igor Pro v6.21 and another issue with the Drive L/R slider. There's added functionality for the Report window and we've also improved how stats are reported for results with large uncertainties. The Autoscale button now has two modes. Click it once to show full data range, or click it again to use 'smart' scaling which will ignore outliers. There's also been some tidying up of the interface to stop buttons or controls overlapping axis labels in the Main Control Window. These aesthetic mods will affect windows users most noticeably.

2.12. Version 2.12 addresses the issues some users were having with the U-Pb DRS. We have also added some great new functionality for the X-Y Plot window. You can fit a curve to any two channels displayed, and if you hover over a point in the X-Y plot window, a description will come up so that you can identify points. There is also a beta version of a "laser log compiler" which combines laser log files, sorts them, and exports them as a new combined log file. This can help if you have a large number of log files for a single analytical session. This functionality is practically untested, so please post comments to the forum. The Agilent file importer was also updated to allow it to import files with a date line descriptor such as"Acquired dd/mm/yyyy: time ...etc. This update is recommended for all users, especially anyone using the U-Pb DRS. 2.1. Major update. Robust error propagation is now available for implementation in any DRS. Propagated errors can be viewed in the report window, and can be selected during export. New X-Y plot window, this new window is a useful way to quickly generate X-Y plots from your data. Iolite now has a splining option called "Smooth_spline_auto" - it uses an algorithm to determine the theoretically optimal degree of smoothing for a spline. Iolite can now display any annotations as integration labels in the Main Control Window. Nu Plasma import has been improved. 3 sd outlier rejection is now available. Fixed PC display issues for the Traces_IS DRS. Report window now has pages, so can handle large number of integration types. Fixed the Si value in the BCR2_G file (was 10x too low), also fixed Er value in BHVO2G. The user is able to set the new "Favourite import folder" in the Iolite Defaults. It is now possible to completely delete integration types (press Shift+Delete when in edit mode). 2.0. Major update. The U-Pb data reduction scheme (DRS) released together with a new trace element DRS that allows users to import a table of internal standard element concentrations for each sample. This DRS also now exports limits of detection, a feature requested by many users. A new "Report Window" has been added and is designed to help the user view data at a population-level. This can be useful in identifying unusual analyses or assessing the effects of changing parameters such as the spline type used in correcting instrumental bias. There is also a new way to create images by stitching together integrations. Users can also set clipping limits, or create lo-scale images. There is a beta version of a Nu Attom importer, and the Agilent import can now handle several generations of file format. The Triton/Neptune importer also imports Element files.A global preferences file has been added that can be altered by going to Iolite -> Modify Iolite's default settings. There's also now a View Standard window (Iolite -> View Standard) which allows users to easily see the current standard values being employed in data reduction. 1.04. Multiple bug fixes. Iolite can now automatically create integrations using Resonetics laser log files produced by the GeoStar software. This can speed things up considerably if you have lots of laser spots. It can also help you to keep track of your samples by collecting metadata such as spot size, rep-rate and x,y position in stage coordinates. It also automatically adds the text entered in the Comment field in GeoStar to the annotation, so that you can see sample names by viewing the annotation in Iolite. Iolite "syncs" the times provided by the laser computer with the mass spectrometer data, so that the two match up and the lag between turning the laser on and the mass spectrometer response is avoided. See the Advanced user part of the manual. 1.03.2.This release addresses changes made due to the release of Igor v 6.1. Fixes include: new handling of single Nu Plasma .run files, ability to process "total" channels in Varian files, more spline options, annotation ordering is more robust 1.03.1. Iolite can now import Triton, Neptune and Element2 data, as well as different collector arrays for Nu Plasma instruments. Iolite now has separate statistical methods for baselines and integrations. Other improvements include: better export of data, automatic integration acquisition from import information, improved handling of Agilent data, improved imaging and easier splining for correction of drift and many others, including bug fixes. 1.02.2. Various bugs fixed after consultation with other users. Iolite should now work with the dreaded Vista. 1.02.1. Solution created for easy updating of old experiments (Iolite Drop-down menu--> "Update old experiment"). Improved ability to handle X series data files containing an extra line of commas between samples. Improvement to the Nu import routine that allows configuration of collector array by modification of a text file. Miscellaneous minor bug fixes and refinements 1.02. Nu Plasma solution file importer beta version. Various minor bugs fixed. 1.01. Initial release. Agilent importer now regarded as stable, new importers created for Thermo X-Series and Perkin Elmer Elan. Various minor bugs fixed.
1.0. Pre-release version available on the web with example files from Nu and Varian ICP's plus Data Reduction Schemes for Trace elements, Sr and Hf isotopes. Preliminary manual plus instructional video available but no information on the construction of new DRS. Fully functioning import modules for Varian and Nu ICPs plus a beta version of the Agilent importer.