Spectroscopy of Laser Plumes for Atto‐Mole and ng/g Elemental Analysis

Abstract

Two all‐optical analytical techniques are reviewed. Both are capable of highly sensitive multi‐element analysis. One is by means of resonance‐enhanced plasma spectroscopy. It minimizes the continuum background associated with laser‐induced plasmas. Relative to laser‐induced breakdown spectroscopy, the signal‐to‐noise ratio is improved by orders of magnitude, thus allowing the quantitation of sodium and potassium at the single blood cell level. The other technique utilizes laser‐excited atomic fluorescence. It has been traditionally handicapped by its one wavelength–one transition specificity. We showed, however, that numerous elements could be induced to fluoresce at a single excitation wavelength of 193 nm provided that the analytes were imbedded in dense plumes, such as those produced by pulsed laser ablation. This method eliminates the continuum plasma background and sub‐ppb sensitivity was demonstrated in the analysis of aqueous lead colloids.     

Enhancement of the molecular nitrogen dissociation and ionization levels by argon mixture in flue nitrogen plasma

In this work, the nitrogen molecular dissociation and ionization levels in Ar/N₂ flue plasma are evaluated as functions of plasma parameters such as Ar mixture quantity and N₂ flux in order to obtain the best condition for various applications such as thin film deposition and material surface modification. This plasma is operated at 10 kV and the nitrogen dissociation rate is determined by analyzing the optical emission of the nitrogen band. For different operating conditions, the dissociation rate [N] of N₂ molecules was enhanced, as the mixture quantity of Ar increased from 0.06 m³/h to 0.9 m³/h and the max of enhancement factor is 4.3. This factor becomes bigger when the N₂ flux becomes bigger. Moreover, the molecular nitrogen ionization density is calculated from the current intensity of the plasma. The ionization density was also enhanced, as the mixture quantity of Ar increased from 0.1 m³/h to 1.5 m³/h, under three different voltages. The max of enhancement factor of 1.96 is much smaller than the factor of the dissociation rate. These results are discussed in terms of the kinetics of the electrons, nitrogen ions, atoms and molecules.     

Langmuir双探针诊断Ne辉光放电管电子密度

应用Langmuir双探针诊断理论,对充有氖气的石英放电管中的辉光放电等离子体进行了诊断,通过实验测得伏安特性曲线,计算得出电子温度和电子密度,讨论了等离子体的宏观参量与电子温度和电子密度的关系.采用直径为0.1 mm的探针对等离子体进行诊断,不仅减小了对所测等离子体区域的扰动,而且减小了读取伏安特性曲线所带来的误差.     

Thermal dileptons in high-energy nuclear collisions

Clear signs of excess dileptons above the known sources have been found at the SPS for a long time. However, a real clarification of these observations was only recently achieved by NA60, measuring dimuons with unprecedented precision in 158A GeV In-In collisions. The excess mass spectrum in the region is consistent with a dominant contribution from π⁺π⁻→ρ→μ⁺μ⁻ annihilation. The associated ρ spectral function shows a strong broadening, but essentially no shift in mass. In the region , the excess is found to be prompt, not due to enhanced charm production. The inverse slope parameter associated with the transverse momentum spectra rises with mass up to the ρ, followed by a sudden decline above. While the initial rise, coupled to a hierarchy in hadron freeze-out, points to radial flow of a hadronic decay source, the decline above signals a transition to a low-flow source, presumably of partonic origin. The mass spectra show a steep rise towards low masses characteristic of Planck-like radiation. The polarization of the excess referred to the Collins Soper frame is found to be isotropic. All observations are consistent with a global interpretation of the excess as thermal radiation. We conclude with a short discussion of a possible link to direct photons.     

Compton散射对磁化等离子体光子晶体缺陷模密温特性的影响

应用多光子非线性Compton散射模型和有限时域差分法,对Compton散射对磁化等离子体光子晶体缺陷模密温特性的影响进行了理论分析和数值模拟。结果表明,与Compton散射前的情况相比,Compton散射使低温低频处光子禁带中存在缺陷模的明显度降低,缺陷模频率增大,缺陷模和透射率峰值减小;使高温高频处缺陷模和透射率峰值、缺陷模频率显著增大,禁带宽减小,缺陷模位置向高频方向移动。随着电子密度的增大,散射减小了禁带增大效应和缺陷模减小效应,增强了缺陷模频率增大效应;随着电子密度的降低,散射增强了禁带变窄效应、缺陷模峰值增大效应和缺陷模频率减小效应。利用Compton散射,可实现对缺陷模密温特性的有效控制。     

醋酸甲羟孕酮与β-环糊精包络作用的光谱研究及应用

用紫外吸收、荧光光谱法对水溶液中β－环糊精（β－ＣＤ）与醋酸甲羟孕酮（ＭＡ）主客体包络物的光谱行为进行了研究．利用改进的Ｂｅｎｅｓｉ－Ｈｉｌｄｅｂｒａｎｄ法测定了包络物的形成常数，初步探讨了某些水溶性一元醇的引入对该包络物形成及荧光性质的影响，并提出了测定ＭＡ的高灵敏度荧光光度新方法，方法的最低检出限为８．９×１０－９ｍｏｌ·Ｌ－１．用该法测定样品中ＭＡ的结果令人满意，回收率为９７．９％～１０１．７％，平均回收率为９９．９％（ｎ＝５）     

Determination of acyclovir in horse plasma and body fluids by high-performance liquid chromatography combined with fluorescence detection and heated electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Two methods are presented for the determination of 'respectively' the plasma protein unbound and total concentration of acyclovir in horse plasma and body fluids: first, a liquid-liquid extraction was performed on plasma, combined with HPLC-fluorescence detection for the total plasma concentration; second a more sensitive method using high-performance liquid chromatography combined with heated electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-HESI-MS/MS) was described for plasma and for body fluids analysis. To obtain the unbound concentration of acyclovir in plasma, a simple deproteinization step using a Microcon filter was performed. Ganciclovir was used as an internal standard. Analysis was carried out on an Inertsil 5 ODS-3 column for the HPLC-fluorescence method. For the LC-HESI-MS/MS method a PLRP-S column was used. The limit of quantification (LOQ) for the total concentration was set at 50 and 2 ng mL(-1) for the HPLC-fluorescence method and the LC-HESI-MS/MS method, respectively. The limit of quantification for the unbound concentration was set at 5 ng mL(-1) and at 2 ng mL(-1) for body fluids. The methods were successfully used to perform pharmacokinetic and clinical studies in horses after intravenous and oral dosage of acyclovir and its prodrug valacyclovir.     

Determination of erythromycin A in rat plasma and urine by high-performance liquid chromatography with chemiluminescence detection using Tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II)

A simple and sensitive method was developed for the determination of erythromycin A (EA), decladinosyl erythromycin A (dClEA) and erythromycin B (EB) in rat plasma and urine by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrogenerated chemiluminescence detection using Tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II). The recovery rates of EA, dClEA and EB were 97, 94 and 85% from rat plasma and 89, 83 and 93% from rat urine, respectively. The calibration curves were linear over the concentration ranges 0.05-5 microg/mL for plasma and 0.5-50 microg/mL for urine. The precision and accuracy for all analytes in rat plasma were < or =9.0 and -6.3-7.2%, and those in urine were < or =9.4% and -6.1-7.6%, respectively. This method proved to be a powerful tool for determination of EA, dClEA and EB concentrations in samples from rats.     

A novel technique to measure the surface electrical potential of polymer films by using dielectric spectroscopy

A novel method that allows the determination of the electrical potential of a polymer surface has been applied for polypropylene film treated by N₂ + H₂ cold plasma. The plasma treatment results in formation on the film surface of NH₂ groups, which then gets transformed to NH₃⁺ in contact with an electrolyte and leads to the formation of an electrical double layer. The method consists of theoretical calculation of electrical model potential, using the measurement of the electrical capacitance of the film in contact with an electrolyte by dielectric spectroscopy. Comparison with the results obtained by theoretical model shows similar dependencies of the electrical potential as a function of amino‐groups density and electrolyte concentration, but systematic differences of absolute values are observed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contribution of Discharge Excited Atomic N,N2*, and N2+ to a Plasma/Liquid Interfacial Reaction as Suggested by Quantitative Analysis

Electric-discharge nitrogen comprises three main types of excited nitrogen species-atomic nitrogen (N_atom), excited nitrogen molecules (N₂*), and nitrogen ions (N₂⁺) – which have different lifetimes and reactivities. In particular, the interfacial reaction locus between the discharged nitrogen and the water phase produces nitrogen compounds such as ammonia and nitrate ions (denoted as N-compounds generically); this is referred to as the plasma/liquid interfacial (P/L) reaction. The N_atom amount was analyzed quantitatively to clarify the contribution of N_atom to the P/L reaction. We focused on the quantitative relationship between N_atom and the produced N-compounds, and found that both N₂* and N₂⁺, which are active species other than N_atom, contributed to P/L reaction. The production of N-compounds from N₂* and N₂⁺ was enhanced upon UV irradiation of the water phase, but the production of N-compounds from N_atom did not increase by UV irradiation. These results revealed that the P/L reactions starting from N_atom and those starting from N₂^* and N₂⁺ follow different mechanisms.