High-resolution High-Speed LIBS Imaging

Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is becoming increasingly prevalent as an analytical technique for material content due to its high sensitivity and the capability to detect any element of the periodical table with nearly no requirements or limitations on sample dimensions, consistency, and/or surface quality.

Typically, excitation sources, such as lasers, with a repetition rate between 10-100 Hz are used for LIBS analysis. However, for high-resolution µmscale LIBS images of large sample areas (several cm2) a higher repetition rate is required to avoid unreasonably long acquisition times.

This work demonstrates an approach to reduce the acquisition time for high resolution µ-LIBS imaging by using a laser operating in the kHz frequency range.

The faster laser repetition rate enabled the development of a µ-LIBS imaging microscope capable of resolving images with about 10 µm resolution at < 20 min/cm2.

For the first time, images of such high resolution showing detailed elemental distribution within an analyzed sample have been achievable.

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