Spectral Characteristics of Laser-Induced Graphite Plasma in Ambient Air

An experimental setup of laser-induced graphite plasma was built and the spectral characteristics and properties of graphite plasma were studied. From the temporal behavior of graphite plasma, the duration of CN partials （B2 ∑＋ →-X2 ∑＋） emission was two times longer than that of atomic carbon, and all intensities reached the maximum during the early stage from 0.2 μs to 0.8 μs. The electron temperature decreased from 11807 K to 8755 K, the vibration temperature decreased from 8973 K to 6472 K, and the rotational temperature decreased from 7288 K to 4491 K with the delay time, respectively. The effect of the laser energy was also studied, and it was found that the thresholds and spectral characteristics of CN molecular and C atomic spectroscopy presented great differences. At lower laser energies, the electron excited temperature, the electron density, the vibrational temperature and rotational temperature of CN partials increased rapidly. At higher laser energies, the increasing of electron excited temperature and electron density slow down, and the vibrational temperature and rotational temperature even trend to saturation due to plasma shielding and dissociation of CN molecules. The relationship among the three kinds of temperatures was Telec〉Tvib〉Trot at the same time. The electron density of the graphite plasma was in the order of 1017 cm-3 and 1018 cm-3.

Quantitative analysis of C, Si, Mn, Ni, Cr and Cu in low-alloy steel under ambient conditions via laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

A diode-pumped solid-state laser （DPSSL） with a high energetic stability and long service life is applied to ablate the steel samples instead of traditional Nd：YAG laser pumped by a xenon lamp, and several factors, such as laser pulse energy, repetition rate and argon flow rate, that influence laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy （LIBS） analytical performance are investigated in detail. Under the optimal experiment conditions, the relative standard deviations for C, Si, Mn, Ni, Cr and Cu are 3.3%-8.9%, 0.9%-2.8%, 1.2%-4.1%, 1.7%-3.0%, 1.1%-3.4% and 2.5%-8.5%, respectively, with the corresponding relative errors of 1.1%-7.9%, 1.0%-6.3%, 0.4%-3.9%, 1.5%-6.3%, 1.2%-4.0% and 1.2%-6.4%. Compared with the results of the traditional spark discharge optical emission spectrometry technique, the analytical performance of LIBS is just a little inferior due to the less stable laser-induced plasma and smaller amount of ablated sample by the laser. However, the precision, detection limits and accuracy of LIBS obtained in our present work were sufficient to meet the requirements for process analysis. These technical performances of higher stability of output energy and longer service life for DPSSL, in comparison to the Q-switch laser pumped by xeon lamp, qualify it well for the real time online analysis for different industrial applications.

Study of pressure effects on ocean in-situ detection using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy(LIBS) has attracted extensive attention as a new technique for in-situ marine application. In this work, the influence of deep-sea high pressure environment on LIBS signals was investigated by using a compact LIBS-sea system developed by Ocean University of China for the in-situ chemical analysis of seawater. The results from the field measurements show that the liquid pressure has a significant effect on the LIBS signals. Higher peak intensity and larger line broadening were obtained as the pressure increases. By comparing the variations of the temperature and salinity with the LIBS signals, a weak correlation between them can be observed. Under high pressure conditions, the optimal laser energy was higher than that in air environment. When the laser energy exceeded 17 mJ, the effect of laser energy on the signal intensity weakened. The signal intensity decreases gradually at larger delays. The obtained results verified the feasibility of the LIBS technique for the deep-sea in-situ detection, and we hope this technology can contribute to surveying more deep-sea environments such as the hydrothermal vent regions.

Determination of Iron in Water Solution by Time-Resolved Femtosecond Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

The influence of the energy of femtosecond laser pulses on the intensity of Fe I （371.99 nm） emission line and the continuous spectrum of the plasma generated on the surface of Fe^3＋ water solution by a Ti： sapphire laser radiation with pulse duration 〈45 fs and energies up to 7 mJ is determined. A calibration curve was obtained for Fe3＋ concentration range from 0.5 g/L to the limit of detection in water solution, and its saturation was detected for concentrations above 0.25 g/L, which is ascribed to self-absorption. The 3σ- limit of detection obtained for Fe in water solution is 2.6 mg/L in the case of 7 mJ laser pulse energy. It is found that an increase of laser pulse energy insignificantly affects on LOD in the time-resolved LIBS and leads to a slight improvement of the limit of detection.

Evaluation of gases'molecular abundance ratio by fiber-optic laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy with a metal-assisted method

A metal-assisted method is proposed for the evaluation of gases’molecular abundance ratio in fiber-optic laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy(FO-LIBS).This method can reduce the laser ablation energy and make gas composition identification possible.The principle comes from the collision between the detected gases and the plasma produced by the laser ablation of the metal substrate.The interparticle collision in the plasma plume leads to gas molecules dissociating and sparking,which can be used to determine the gas composition.The quantitative relationship between spectral line intensity and molecular abundance ratio was developed over a large molecular abundance ratio range.The influence of laser ablation energy and substrate material on gas quantitative calibration measurement is also analyzed.The proposed metal-assisted method makes the measurement of gases’molecular abundance ratios possible with an FO-LIBS system.

In Deep UV Quantitative Analysis of Multi-Element Low Alloy Steel by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

The multi-element components of low alloy steel were quantified by using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in deep UV. The Nd:YAG pulsed laser was used to produce plasma. The spectrum was simultaneously obtained by deep UV spectrometer. This paper studied the influence of experiment parameters on LIBS spectral intensity, such as delay, energy of laser, and the distance between the focusing lens and the surface of the sample. With the optimal expe- riment parameters, the characteristic lines of C, Ni, Si, Cr and Cu contained in low alloy steel were selected for quantit- ative analysis and the calibration curves of these elements were obtained. The linear correlation coefficient was good. Using the calibration curves to quantitative analysis for the sample 05-d, and the relative error of analytical results is less than 10% for most elements.

The high dependence of polarization resolved laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy on experimental conditions

It is shown that the continuum emission produced by an A1 alloy ablated by femtosecond laser pulses is much more polarized than the characteristic lines of elements. A Glan-Thomson polarizer is used in the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy experiment to investigate the polarization effect. The use of the polarizer at its minimal transmission increases the signal-to-noise ratio. The effects of angle of detection, focal position, and pulse energy on the signal-to- noise ratio are also studied.

Time-Resolved Emission Spectroscopic Study of Laser-Induced Steel Plasmas

Laser-induced steel plasma is generated by focusing a Q-switched Nd：YAG visible laser（532 nm wavelength） with an irradiance of 1 x 109 W/cm2 on a steel sample in air at atmospheric pressure.An Echelle spectrograph coupled with a gateable intensified charge-coupled detector is used to record the plasma emissions.Using time-resolved spectroscopic measurements of the plasma emissions,the temperature and electron number density of the steel plasma are determined for many times of the detector delay.The validity of the assumption by the spectroscopic methods that the laser-induced plasma（LIP） is optically thin and is also in local thermodynamic equilibrium（LTE） has been evaluated for many delay times.From the temporal evolution of the intensity ratio of two Fe I lines and matching it with its theoretical value,the delay times where the plasma is optically thin and is also in LTE are found to be 800 ns,900 ns and 1000 ns.

Self-Absorption Effects on Electron Temperature-Measurements Utilizing Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)-Techniques

In the present work, we have studied the temporal evolution of aluminum alloy plasma produced by the fundamental (1064 nm) of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser by placing the target material in air at atmospheric pressure. The four Al I-neutral lines at 308.21, 309.27, 394.40 and 369.15 nm as well as Al II-ionic lines at 281.61, 385.64 and 466.30 nm are used for the determination of the electron temperature Te using Saha-Boltzmann plot method. The neutral aluminum lines were found to suffer from optical thickness which manifested itself on the form of scattered points around the Saha-Boltzmann line. The isolated optically thin hydrogen Hα-line at 656.27 nm appeared in the spectra under the same experimental conditions was used to correct the Al I-lines which contained some optical thickness. The measurements were repeated at different delay times ranging from 1 to 5 μs. The comparison between the deduced electron temperatures from aluminum neutral lines before correction against the effect self-absorption to that after correction revealed a precise value in temperature. The results sure that, in case of the presence of self-absorption effect the temperature varies from (1.4067 - 1.2548 eV) as the delay time is varied from 0 to 5 μs. Whereas, in the case of repairing against the effect, it varies from (1.2826 - 0.8961 eV) for the same delay time variation.

The polarization characteristics of single shot nanosecond laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy of Al

The polarization-resolved laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy （PRLIBS） technique, which can significantly reduce the polarized emission from laser plasma by placing a polarizer in front of the detector, is a powerful tool to improve the line-to-continuum ratio in LIBS applications. It is shown that the continuum emission from the plasma produced through ablating an Al sample by nanosecond laser pulses is much more polarized than the discrete line emission with the singlepulse PRLIBS technique. The effects of laser fluence and detection angle on the Al polarization spectrum are systematically explored experimentally. The calculated result of the polarization spectrum as a function of laser fluence shows that it is in agreement with the experimental observations.

Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy for Comparative Quantitative Analysis of Betel Leaves from Pakistan

Laser induced breakdown Spectroscopy(LIBS)was applied for the elemental analysis and exposure of the heavy metals in betel leaves in air.Pulsed Nd∶YAG(1064 nm)in conjunction with a suitable detector(LIBS 2000+,Ocean Optics,Inc)having the optical resolution of 0.06 nm was used to record the emission spectra from 220 to 720 nm.Elements like Al,Ba,Ca,Cr,Cu,P,Fe,K,Mg,Mn,Na,P,S,Sr,and Zn were found to present in the samples.The relative abundances of the observed elements were calculated through standard calibration curve method,integrated intensity ratio method,and weight percentage LIBS approach.LIBS findings were validated by comparing its results with the results obtained using a typical analytical technique of Inductively Coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy(ICP-OES).Limit of detection(LOD)of the LIBS system was also estimated for heavy metals.The experience gain through this work implies that LIBS could be highly applicable for testing the quality and purity of food products.

Preliminary results of in situ laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for the first wall diagnostics on EAST

Post-mortem methods cannot fulfill the requirement of monitoring the lifetime of the plasma facing components （PFC） and measuring the tritium inventory for the safety evaluation. Laserinduced breakdown spectroscopy （LIBS） is proposed as a promising method for the in situ study of fuel retention and impurity deposition in a tokamak. In this study, an in situ LIBS system was successfully established on EAST to investigate fuel retention and impurity deposition on the first wall without the need of removal tiles between plasma discharges. Spectral lines of D, H and impurities （Mo, Li, Si ） in laser-induced plasma were observed and identified within the wavelength range of 500-700 nm. Qualitative measurements such as thickness of the deposition layers, element depth profile and fuel retention on the wall are obtained by means of in situ LIBS. The results demonstrated the potential applications of LIBS for in situ characterization of fuel retention and co-deposition on the first wall of EAST.

Influence of a Static Magnetic Field on Laser Induced Tungsten Plasma in Air

In this work,laser induced tungsten plasma has been investigated in the absence and presence of 0.6 T static transverse magnetic field at atmospheric pressure in air.The spectroscopic characterization of laser induced tungsten plasma was experimentally studied using space-resolved emission spectroscopy.The atomic emission lines of tungsten showed a significant enhancement in the presence of a magnetic field,while the ionic emission lines of tungsten presented little change.Temporal variation of the optical emission lines of tungsten indicated that the atomic emission time in the presence of a magnetic field was longer than that in the absence of a magnetic field,while no significant changes occurred for the ionic emission time.The spatial resolution of optical emission lines of tungsten demonstrated that the spatial distribution of atoms and ions were separated.The influence of a magnetic field on the spatial distribution of atoms was remarkable,whereas the spatial distribution of ions was little influenced by the magnetic field.The different behaviors between ions and atoms with and without magnetic field in air were related to the various atomic processes especially the electrons and ions recombination process during the plasma expansion and cooling process.

Investigation of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy(LIBS)for the Differentiation of Nerve and Gland Tissue-A Possible Application for a Laser Surgery Feedback Control Mechanism

Laser surgery provides clean,fast and accurate modeling of tissue.However,the inability to determine what kind of tissue is being ablated at the bottom of the cut may lead to the iatrogenic damage of structures that were meant to be preserved.In this context,nerve preservation is one of the key challenges in any surgical procedure.One example is the treatment of parotid gland pathologies,where the facial nerve（N.VII） and its main branches run through and fan out inside the glands parenchyma.A feedback system that automatically stops the ablation to prevent nerve-tissue damage could greatly increase the applicability and safety of surgical laser systems.In the present study,Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy（LIBS） is used to differentiate between nerve and gland tissue of an ex-vivo pig animal model.The LIBS results obtained in this preliminary experiment suggest that the measured spectra,containing atomic and molecular emissions,can be used to differentiate between the two tissue types.The measurements and differentiation were performed in open air and under normal stray light conditions.

Spectral Characterization of Laser Induced Plasma from Titanium Dioxide

Optical emission from TiO2 plasma, generated by a nanosecond laser is spectroscopically analysed. The main chemical species are identified and the spatio-temporal distribution of the plasma parameters such as electron temperature and density are characterized based on the study of spectral distribution of the line intensities and their broadening characteristics. The parameters of laser induced plasma vary quickly owing to its expansion at low background pressure and the possible deviations from local thermodynamic equilibrium conditions are tested to show its validity.

Laser induced fluorescence diagnostic for velocity distribution functions:applications,physics,methods and developments

With more than 30 years of development,laser-induced fluorescence(LIF)is becoming an increasingly common diagnostic to measure ion and neutral velocity distribution functions in different fields of studies in plasma science including Hall thrusters,linear devices,plasma processing,and basic plasma physical processes.In this paper,technical methods used in the LIF diagnostic,including modulation,collection optics,and wavelength calibration techniques are reviewed in detail.A few basic physical processes along with applications and future development associated with the LIF diagnostics are also reviewed.

Plasma diagnostics by optical emission spectroscopy on manganese ore in conjunction with XRD, XRF and SEM-EDS

Manganese(Mn) is an important industrial mineral.Information about the chemical and phase constitution along with the concentration of impurities presented in Mn ore is compulsory in assessing its suitability for different applications.We performed the qualitative and quantitative analysis of low-grade Mn ore(LGMO) using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy(LIBS) in conjunction with x-ray diffraction(XRD), x-ray fluorescence(XRF) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) coupled with energy dispersive x-ray electron spectroscopy(EDS).The optical emission spectra of the LGMO sample displayed the presence of Mn, Si, Ca, Fe, Al, Mg,V, Ti, Sr, Ni, Na, Ba and Li.The plasma parameters, electron temperature and number density were estimated using the Boltzmann plot and Stark broadening line profile methods and were found to be 7500 K±750 K and 8.18±0.8×1017 cm-3, respectively.Quantitative analysis was performed using the calibration-free LIBS(CF-LIBS) method and its outcome along with XRD, XRF and SEM-EDS data showed almost analogous elemental composition, while the LIBS method gave acceptably precise elemental analysis by detecting the low atomic number element Li besides V and Sr.The results obtained using LIBS for the LGMO exhibited its ability as a powerful analytical tool and XRF, XRD and SEM-EDS as complementary methods for the compositional analysis of complex low-grade mineral ore.

Damage characteristics of laser plasma shock wave on rear surface of fused silica glass

The damage to the rear surface of fused silica under the action of high power laser is more severe than that incurred by the front surface,which hinders the improvement in the energy of the high power laser device.For optical components,the ionization breakdown by laser is a main factor causing damage,particularly with laser plasma shock waves,which can cause large-scale fracture damage in fused silica.In this study,the damage morphology is experimentally investigated,and the characteristics of the damage point are obtained.In the theoretical study,the coupling and transmission of the shock wave in glass are investigated based on the finite element method.Thus,both the magnitude and the orientation of stress are obtained.The damage mechanism of the glass can be explained based on the fracture characteristics of glass under different stresses and also on the variation of the damage zone’s Raman spectrum.In addition,the influence of the glass thickness on the damage morphology is investigated.The results obtained in this study can be used as a reference in understanding the characteristics and mechanism of damage characteristics induced by laser plasma shock waves.

Diagnostic Study of Nickel Plasma Produced by Fundamental (1064 nm) and Second Harmonics (532 nm) of an Nd: YAG Laser

In the present work, we have studied the spatial evolution of the nickel alloy plasma produced by the fundamental (1064 nm) and second (532 nm) harmonics of a Q-switched Nd: YAG laser by placing the target material in air at atmospheric pressure. The four Ni I lines at 335.10 nm, 394.61 nm, 481.19 nm and 515.57 nm are used for the determination of electron temperature (Te) using Boltzmann plot method. The electron temperature is calculated as a function of distance from the target surface for both modes of Nd: YAG laser. In case of fundamental (1064 nm) mode of laser, the temperature varies from 13700 - 10270 K as the distance is varied from 0 to 2 mm. Whereas, in the case of second (532 nm) mode of laser it varies from 13270 - 9660 K for the same distance variation. The electron temperature has also been determined by varying the energy of the laser from 90 to 116 mJ, for the fundamental (1064 nm) harmonic and from 58 to 79 mJ for the second (532 nm) harmonics of the laser. The temperature increases from 14192 to 15765 K in the first case and from 13170 to 14800 K for the second case. We have also studied the spatial behavior of the electron number density in the plasma plume. The electron number density (Ne) in the case of fundamental (1064 nm) harmonic of the laser having pulse energy 125 mJ varies from 2.81 × 1016 to 9.81 × 1015 cm-3 at distances of 0 mm to 2.0 mm, whereas, in the case of second (532 nm) harmonic, with pulse energy 75 mJ it varies from 3.67 × 1016 to 1.48 × 1016 cm-3 for the same distance variation by taking Ni I line at 227.20 nm in both the cases.

LIBS结合图像筛选方法提高钢铁中Cu、Cr、Mn元素检测稳定性研究

优质特种钢材和低端粗钢之间的性能差异主要受其构成元素种类及其成分含量的影响,因此,如何快速准确地对物质成分进行定性及定量分析对钢铁产品的质量评估至关重要。针对传统方法难以实现对钢铁合金成分的快速准确检测的难题,采用激光诱导击穿光谱(LIBS)结合等离子体图像信息的方法,通过快速地对不同元素的特征光谱强度与激发生成的等离子体图像进行采集,分析两者之间的相关性,并通过提取的图像特征信息的异常值剔除了部分无效光谱数据,进而实现了对钢铁成分的高精度分析。通过分析延迟时间和激光能量等不同实验条件对元素特征光谱强度及其对应等离子体图像的影响规律,不仅证明了等离子体图像与光谱之间存在相关性,还利用等离子体图像特征信息的局部最优值确定了最优延迟时间、激光能量分别为1000 ns与50 mJ,并根据图像特征的平均阈值来筛选无效光谱数据。结果表明,图像筛选优化数据后,各元素谱线校准模型的决定系数(R^(2))分别从原始数据的0.978、0.986、0.957、0.935提升至0.995、0.997、0.968、0.957,且其定标曲线对未知样品元素的预测浓度相对标准偏差(RSD)下降为原始数据预测浓度RSD的50%左右。由此可知采用LIBS结合图像筛选方法可以减少定量分析的误差,提高预测结果精确度。