Discrimination of Complex Substances with Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) analysis begins with a focused laser beam that ablates the specimen (sample), generating a small spark. The light, optical emission from the spark, which contains spectral information about the composition of the sample, is collected by an optical system. These spectral data are analyzed for chemical identification. Although the LIBS spectra comprise mostly atomic emission lines, relative intensities and shapes of these lines depend upon the nature of the sample, and thus, LIBS can discriminate even compositionally similar molecular compounds. Such complex substance identification is achieved using chemometric algorithms to process and compare spectra against a preestablished database.