Libs - Advantages

Advantages

Because such a small amount of material is consumed during the LIBS process the technique is considered essentially non-destructive or minimally-destructive, and with an average power density of less than one watt radiated onto the specimen there is almost no specimen heating surrounding the ablation site. Due to the nature of this technique sample preparation is typically minimised to homogenisation or is often unnecessary where heterogeneity is to be investigated or where a specimen is known to be sufficiently homogeneous, this reduces the possibility of contamination during chemical preparation steps. One of the major advantages of the LIBS technique is its ability to depth profile a specimen by repeatedly discharging the laser in the same position, effectively going deeper into the specimen with each shot. This can also be applied to the removal of surface contamination, where the laser is discharged a number of times prior to the analysing shot. LIBS is also a very rapid technique giving results within seconds, making it particularly useful for high volume analyses or on-line industrial monitoring.

LIBS is an entirely optical technique, therefore it requires only optical access to the specimen. This is of major significance as fibre optics can be employed for remote analyses. And being an optical technique it is non-invasive, non-contact and can even be used as a stand-off analytical technique when coupled to appropriate telescopic apparatus. These attributes have significance for use in areas from hazardous environments to space exploration. Additionally LIBS systems can easily be coupled to an optical microscope for micro-sampling adding a new dimension of analytical flexibility.

With specialised optics or a mechanically positioned specimen stage the laser can be scanned over the surface of the specimen allowing spatially resolved chemical analysis and the creation of 'elemental maps'. This is very significant as chemical imaging is becoming more important in all branches of science and technology.

Portable LIBS systems are more sensitive, faster and can detect a wider range of elements (particularly the light elements) than competing techniques such as portable x-ray fluorescence. And LIBS does not use ionizing radiation to excite the sample, which is both penetrating and potentially carcinogenic.