Laser excited analytical atomic and ionic fluorescence in flames, furnaces and inductively coupled plasmas—I. General considerations

Abstract

Several important parameters for the analytical use of laser excited fluorescence spectrometry in flames, graphite furnaces and inductively coupled plasmas are discussed in some detail. These parameters include the laser characteristics such as peak power, pulse duration, spectral bandwidth and repetition rate, the choice of the excitation line, the optical arrangement and the detection system, this last one centred on the widespread use of the boxcar averager. It is shown that, if the ultimate sensitivity is the goal to be achieved, then the choice must be the electrothermal atomization. However, even for flames and inductively coupled plasmas, excellent results are possible provided that: (i) the laser system allows complete spectral coverage in the ultraviolet: (ii) saturation of the fluorescence signal can be approached over a large sample volume; and (iii) the gated detection parameters and the laser repetition frequency are optimized with respect to each other so as to reach the maximum signal-to-noise ratio.