Study of the double-pulse setup with an orthogonal beam geometry for laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Single- and double-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was applied on aluminum samples at atmospheric pressure in air. In the case of the double-pulse scheme, experiments were carried out with an ablation laser emitting at 532 nm and a reheating laser emitting at 1064 nm in an orthogonal beam geometry. With the use of a 1-m focal length monochromator and an echelle spectrometer both equipped with an intensified charge coupled device (ICCD), the studies on the effect of the delay between the two laser pulses displayed optimum enhancements of line emissions only at 200 ns in the reheating scheme developed here. The experimental parameters, like the signal acquisition delay, were largely studied. The line intensity enhancements were also investigated in dependence on physical parameters, such as the excitation energy levels of the lines observed. Moreover, the relative importance of ionic and neutral lines in the emission spectra was precisely characterized. From the different investigations, the behaviors of the line emissions towards the double-pulse technique were related to their excitation energy levels. A correlation between the increases in intensity and the excitation energy levels of the line emissions was highlighted. As a result, the reheating scheme showed improvements of sensitivity for elements emitting ionic lines compared with the corresponding single-pulse experiments.