Elemental analysis of environmental and biological samples using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and pulsed Raman spectroscopy

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and a relatively new technique, pulsed Raman spectroscopy (P-RAMS) are used in this investigation to measure the elemental composition of soils and heterogeneous biological matrices. The LIBS method was used effectively to determine the elemental concentration of carbon and nitrogen in soils, and the presence of metal contaminants in invertebrates. The P-RAMS method was used in exploratory studies to assess prominent molecular vibration peaks from the same soils analyzed using LIBS. The P-RAMS spectra for the different soils show a close relationship to the fraction of organic carbon in soils. Our results demonstrate that these techniques greatly facilitate elemental analysis of heterogeneous environmental and biological matrices by reducing sample preparation and analysis times. These techniques can also provide semi-quantitative results on a regular basis and quantitative results in particular cases.