Laser-ablation Spark-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Research Articles

Analysis of magnesium and copper in aluminum alloys with high repetition rate laser-ablation spark-induced breakdown spectroscopy

In order to improve the analytical speed and performance of laser-ablation based atomic emission spectroscopy, high repetition rate laser-ablation spark-induced breakdown spectroscopy (HRR LA-SIBS) was first developed. Magnesium and copper in aluminum alloys were analyzed with this technique. In the experiments, the fundamental output of an acousto-optically Q-switched Nd:YAG laser operated at 1 kHz repetition rate with low pulse energy and ~120 ns pulse width was used to ablate the samples and the plasma emission was enhanced by spark discharge. The spectra were recorded with a compact fiber spectrometer with non-intensified charge-coupled device in non-gating mode. Different parameters relative with analytical performance, such as capacitance, voltage, laser pulse energy were optimized. Under current experimental conditions, calibration curves of magnesium and copper in aluminum alloys were built and limits of detection of them were determined to be 14.0 and 9.9 ppm by HRR LA-SIBS, respectively, which were 8–12 folds better than that achieved by HRR LA under similar experimental condition without spark discharge. The analytical sensitivities are close to those obtained with conventional LIBS but with improved analytical speed as well as possibility of using compact fiber spectrometer. Under high repetition rate operation, the noise level can be decreased and the analytical reproducibility can be improved obviously by averaging multiple measurements within short time. High repetition rate operation of laser-ablation spark-induced breakdown spectroscopy is very helpful for improving analytical speed. It is possible to find applications in fast elements analysis, especially fast two-dimension elemental mapping of solid samples.

Femtosecond laser-ablation spark-induced breakdown spectroscopy and its application to the elemental analysis of aluminum alloys

A high repetition rate spark discharge was used to improve the analytical sensitivity of the conventional femtosecond laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy.

Laser ablation assisted spark induced breakdown spectroscopy on soil samples

Laser ablation-spark induced breakdown spectroscopy (LA-SIBS), characterized by a developed high voltage fast pulse discharge spark, allows direct in-site analysis of non-conductive material without prior sample preparation. Currently laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) permits qualitative analysis of a solid or liquid sample by ablating a tiny portion of it, then analyzing the resulting plasma. The LA-SIBS takes this a step further by employing a specifically designed high voltage and fast pulse discharge circuit to enhance plasma emission produced by laser ablation. In this article, LA-SIBS was used for optical emission spectroscopy of soil and compared with a single pulse (SP) LIBS technique. Except for great signal enhancement of plasma emission, the precision in terms of relative standard deviation (RSD) was generally improved by about 2 to 3 times. In addition, the signal to noise (S/N) ratio was improved by about 2 to 3 times as well. These characteristics will thereby probably benefit sensitivity for minor element analysis in most potential analytes. The signal enhancement with improved precision and S/N ratio on soil samples by LA-SIBS was demonstrated.