ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS BY LASER INDUCED BREAKDOWN SPECTROSCOPY FOR AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS

Abstract

Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (L.I.B.S.) is a technique that offers the prospect of on- line and in-situ monitoring of multi-elements in water. In this way, there are two research axes: research on improving the limit of detection (LOD) by optimizing different experimental parameters and a similar emphasis of research on characterizing a commercially viable optimum sample presentation configuration. The purpose of this work is to compare between two sample configurations; jet and bulk configurations, and to demonstrate that by a proper optimization of the experimental set-up in terms of laser pulse and sample delivery characteristics, time-, spatially-, and spectrally-resolved detection system, a real time quantitative determination of trace element concentrations in water by L.I.B.S. becomes feasible.