LASER ABLATION MOLECULAR ISOTOPE SPECTROSCOPY - A NEXT GENERATION LIBS TECHNOLOGY FOR REAL-TIME ISOTOPE MEASUREMENTS

A new approach based on molecular emission in a laser plasma has been developed for measuring isotopes in real time and at atmospheric pressure. The technology is called LAMIS for Laser Ablation Molecular Isotope Spectroscopy. Laser ablation (LA) is the driving process for removing a tiny amount sample and creating a small luminous optical plasma. By measuring the optical emission from this plasma, all chemical elements in a sample can be immediately analyzed. Benefits of laser ablation include no sample preparation, no consumables, every sample, real-time analysis, and field use. Understanding the fundamentals of the ablation process has led to improvements in accuracy and precision for direct solid sample chemical analysis. In general, this technology provides ppm sensitivity for elemental analysis and also allows molecular classification based on database libraries and chemometrics. Isotopic analysis has been reported using LIBS, with almost all of the previous measurements performed at reduced pressure. However, this talk will discuss the ability to measure isotope splitting in laser ablation plasmas at atmospheric pressure using only a small spectrometer with relatively low resolving power. Examples of LAMIS for light elements C and B, and for Sr will be presented.