Some notes on the role of meta-stable excited state of helium atom in laser-induced helium gas breakdown spectroscopy

A study of the experimental results on the plasma emissions of water and ethanol vapor samples, induced by Nd:YAG laser in ambient helium and nitrogen gases at atmospheric pressure, is presented here. The result reveals distinct geometrical and spectral characteristics of the plasma emissions generated in the helium gas when compared to those observed from nitrogen gas plasma. Most remarkable is the narrow line width and low continuum background exhibited by emission lines of the analyte atoms from helium plasma, including the hydrogen emission line which is known to suffer from notorious broadening effects in conventional laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). It is further shown on the basis of the measured spatial distributions and time profiles of the emission intensities, that the excellent spectral quality is attained by taking advantage of the meta-stable excited state of helium atoms for the delayed excitation of the hydrogen and other analyte atoms, this allows the detection of those atomic emissions to be performed under more favorable conditions. The result of this study has thus demonstrated the feasibility of achieving high-quality spectrochemical analysis, including hydrogen analysis with laser-induced helium gas breakdown spectroscopy. PACS 52.38.Mf