| Abstract | Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is a method of optical emission spectroscopy that uses laser-generated plasma as the source of vaporization, atomization and excitation. A bibliographic study around the LIBS literature shows clearly the number of application areas related to LIBS and laser based techniques is still growing. There is no doubt that LIBS has become a fascinating technology with great promise. The benefits include no sample preparation, no consumables, every sample, real-time analysis, standoff measurements, and more. LIBS provides ppm sensitivity for elemental analysis and even offers molecular characterization based on database libraries and chemometrics. Since the invention of the laser in the sixties, a few instruments based on LIBS have been developed but have not found widespread use. However, in the last decade, there has been significant technological developments in the components (lasers, spectrometers, detectors) used in LIBS instruments as well as emerging needs to perform real time measurements under conditions to which conventional techniques cannot be applied. This opens the door for many applications and possibilities of developing field-deployable instruments. In this presentation we will review the technological developments in the components used for LIBS instrumentations for different industrial sectors. Based on these applications, we will discuss the LIBS instrumentation in terms of robustness, analytical performance and portability in comparison to conventional techniques. In addition, we will present the determination of isotope ratios using LIBS in air at atmospheric pressure for partially resolved uranium-235/uranium-238 and hydrogen/deuterium isotope shift lines in such conditions. Some approaches to improve the LIBS sensitivity developed in our laboratory and elsewhere, such as double pulse mode, laser induced fluorescence coupled to LIBS, resonance enhanced LIBS, resonant ablation, will be also presented. |
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