Abstract

The method of laser-photoionization analytical spectroscopy with thermal vacuum atomization of solids in combination with fire-assay enrichment has been investigated to detect traces of ruthenium in natural objects. The process of fire-assay concentration of ruthenium into lead alloys, which produces enhancement factors of ruthenium from 10² to 10⁴ without loss of element, has been studied. It has been shown for the first reported time that it is possible to calibrate the analytical signals from thermally atomized solid matrices by using an analytical curve based on aqueous standards. The detection limits of ruthenium for solid samples is 1 part in 10¹² and for seawater 0.03 part in 10¹².

© 1985 Optical Society of America

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