Abstract

Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a variation on the method of spark spectroscopy in which the light from a pulsed laser is focused to produce the spark rather than an electric discharge. This technique (LIBS) has been largely developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory and shown to be useful for elemental analysis, concentration determination, or molecular species differentiation depending upon the experimental configuration. The capability of determining concentration of analytes at high sensitivity gives LIBS an advantage over some other measurement techniques.

© 1996 Optical Society of America