Development of automated system for real-time LIBS analysis

Abstract

Recent developments in Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrumentation allow the acquisition of several spectra in a second. The dataset from a typical LIBS experiment can consist of a few thousands of spectra. To extract the useful information from that dataset is painstaking effort and time consuming process. Most of the currently available softwares for spectral data analysis are expensive and used for offline data analysis. LabVIEW software compatible with spectrometer (in this case Ocean Optics Maya pro spectrometer), can be used to for data acquisition and real time analysis. In the present work, a LabVIEW based automated system for real-time LIBS analysis integrated with spectrometer device is developed. This system is capable of performing real time analysis based on as-acquired LIBS spectra. Here, we have demonstrated the LIBS data acquisition and real time calculations of plasma temperature and electron density. Data plots and variations in spectral intensity in response to laser energy were observed on LabVIEW monitor interface. Routine laboratory samples of brass and calcine bone were utilized in this experiment. Developed program has shown impressive performance in real time data acquisition and analysis.