Comparative Study of Two Methods of Orthogonal Double-Pulse Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy of Aluminum

Abstract

Double-pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (DP-LIBS) of aluminum sample is studied experimentally in orthogonal configuration in air. In this configuration, two schemes of reheating and pre-ablation are examined and the results are compared with single pulse one. The effect of delay time between two laser pulses on emission line intensities of plasma is investigated. Some of the parameters that have been involved in different mechanism of signal enhancement such as plasma temperature, sample heating effects, atmospheric effects, and modification of the ablation dynamics are more discussed. Investigation of the effect of laser pulse energy on emission line intensities in single pulse LIBS experiment demonstrate that because of saturation effects the intensities will not increase necessarily by increasing the laser pulse energy. Moreover, the results show that the electron temperature and rate of mass removal in orthogonal configuration of DP-LIBS is higher than that of single pulse with the same total energy. It is suggested that for correct comparison between single and double pulse results, the optimum pulse energy in single pulse should be considered. Overall, our results demonstrate that under optimized conditions the signal enhancement is much more in pre-ablation configuration than re-heating configuration.