Double-pulse neodymium YAG/Carbon dioxide laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for excitation of bulk and trace analytes

The mechanisms involved in signal enhancement and persistence of the plasma in double-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy are investigated, and their implications to improving figures of merit for bulk and trace analytes in sample are discussed. For double-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, 1064 nm neodymium YAG laser is used for ablation and 10.6 µm transversely excited atmospheric carbon dioxide laser in near-collinear geometry is used for reheating. Significant improvement in signal detection and sensitivity of both bulk and trace analytes using double-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy as compared to conventional single-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy are observed. Using double-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy in near-collinear geometry, Cu and Fe as bulk and trace analytes, respectively, in brass sample, showed 5 and 6 times improvement in persistence of the spectral emission. Temporal and time-integrated studies show that ionic lines are significantly enhanced compared to neutral lines. Plasma characterization employing spectroscopic methods showed significant enhancement in plasma temperature resulting in higher signal as well as increased plasma persistence of the species studied.