Effect of plasma gas for spectrometric analysis of tin and zinc using low-pressure laser-induced plasma

The emission characteristics of tramp elements such as Sn and Zn in low-pressure laser-induced plasma have been examined with reference to change of the surrounding gas (Ar, Ne and He). From the pressure dependence of the intensity of Sn I 326.23-nm, Sn II 335.22-nm, Zn I 213.86-nm and Zn II 210.00-nm emission lines, it was found that Sn and Zn atoms could be excited by the collision between surrounding gas species and ablated atoms with large kinetic energy by laser irradiation. Besides the collisional excitation, resonance charge-transfer collision between Zn atoms and Ne ions proved to be effective in the selective excitation of Zn II 206.42-nm and 210.00-nm emission lines, because the emission intensity of these lines was strongly enhanced in Ne atmosphere, and the sum of the excitation energy of these lines and the ionization potential of Zn is very close to the ground-state energy of Ne ions.