Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy
(LIBS) to detect the light
elements such as lithium (Li) and boron (B) and heavy elements such
as copper (Cu) and lead (Pb) in raw fish samples is reported in this
work. This is made possible by understanding that the soft target
absorbs recoil energy and as a result, the ablated atoms gushing from
the soft target do not acquire sufficient speed to form a shock wave.
In order to overcome this problem, we set a subtarget on the back
of the soft target so as to produce the repulsion force by which the
gushing speed of the ablated atoms is increased, yielding a sufficiently
high plasma temperature or sufficiently large thermal energy needed
for the excitation of the ablated atoms. Excellent spectral qualities
of various soft samples such as margarine, butter, peanut butter,
strawberry jam, raw tuna, raw gindara, and raw salmon are presented.
Furthermore, a linear calibration curve with a zero intercept is also
obtained for Li, Cu, and Pb. The detection limit of Li, Cu, and Pb
is found to be around 0.1 mg/L. This modification of LIBS for soft
samples by using a subtarget effect clearly promises a rapid and in
situ soft sample analysis since there is practically no sample digestion
in the analysis.