Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy of liquid

Abstract

Chemical composition of liquid phase samples is determined based on laser induced ablation spectroscopy of droplets. An aerosol jet comprising a carrier gas and liquid phase sample droplets, less than about 10 microns in diameter, is formed. An emissive plasma plume is generated from the sample droplets using a pulsed laser to deposit energy at a focal point in the aerosol jet. Light from the plasma plume is gathered with a concave mirror and focused into one end of a fiber optic lightguide. The lightguide can transmit spectral emissions from the plume to a spectrometer/detector which can send wavelength and intensity values to a computer. The computer is operable to determine a liquid sample composition based on the wavelength and intensity values.