Abstract

In previous work, Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)¹ was evaluated in the laboratory for application to monitoring beryllium particles in air² and particles collected on filters³. Based on this work, which showed the feasibility of using LIBS to monitor beryllium, a prototype instrument has been constructed for use in an industrial environment. The instrument was designed to a provide an immediate determination of airborne beryllium concentrations by monitoring contaminated air in real-time (less than 10 secs) and to provide a rapid determination of beryllium collected on air sampling filters (less than 5 min). In contrast, current methods of analyzing beryllium filters can require up to 8 hours, with the majority of time devoted to sample preparation.

© 1987 Optical Society of America