Laser-induced shock wave plasma spectrometry using a small chamber designed for in situ analysis

Direct spectrochemical analyses on large bulk samples such as metal plates have been performed by using a small vacuum chamber, which was attached directly to the sample surface through an o-ring. This technique allowed the in situ generation of laser plasma and hence overcome to a good extent the inconvenient and sometime clumsy sample preparation procedure required in Laser-Induced Shock Wave Plasma Spectrometry. Additionally, the presence of the o-ring near the target surface effectively shielded off the surrounding area from the undesirable continuum emission from the primary plasma, and thereby enhanced the detection sensitivity of this technique. Using zinc plate and Pb glass as samples, it was further demonstrated in this experiment that even the time-integrated spectra, obtained by employing an OMA system, still exhibited a lower background than those obtained by ordinary time-resolved Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy.