Quantitative micro-analysis by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy: a review of the experimental approaches

The laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique has shown in recent years its great potential for rapid qualitative analysis of materials. Because of the lack of pre-treatment of the material, as well as the speed of analysis, not mentioning the possibility of in situ analysis, this technique offers an attractive solution for a wide range of industrial applications. As a consequence, a lot of work has been devoted towards the application of LIBS technique for quantitative micro-analysis. The purpose of this paper is to give a review of the current experimental approaches used for obtaining quantitative micro-analysis using the LIBS technique. The influence on LIBS analytical performances of laser power, wavelength and pulse length, the proper choice of experimental geometry, the importance of ambient gas choice and the role of detectors for improving the precision of LIBS analysis are among the topics discussed in this paper. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.