Rapid Analyses of Tiny Amounts of Powder Samples Using Transversely Excited Atmospheric CO₂ Laser-Induced Helium Gas Plasma with the Aid of High-Vacuum Silicon Grease as a Binder on a Metal Subtarget

Abstract

Rapid quantitative analyses of powder samples available in tiny amounts have successfully been conducted by utilizing a transversely excited atmospheric (TEA) CO2 laser-induced He gas plasma. In this study, 4 mg of powder sample was homogeneously mixed with 4 mg of high-vacuum silicon grease and the silicon grease–mixed powder sample (SMP) was painted on a metal surface, which serves as a subtarget. The grease functions to strongly bind the powder and to suppress blow-off of the powder particles. When a TEA CO2 laser (750 mJ, 10.6 μm, 200 ns) was directly focused on the metal subtarget in He gas at 1 atmosphere, a hightemperature He gas plasma was induced, producing a profusion metastable He atoms. It is assumed that the powder particles together with the silicon grease were vaporized to be effectively atomized and excited through metastable He atoms. The result revealed that this technique can be widely employed in the rapid semi-quantitative analyses of powder samples present in minute amounts. A quantitative analysis of loam soil containing different concentrations of Cu was successfully demonstrated, resulting in a good linear calibration curve. The detection limits of Cr and Pb in loam soil were approximately 4 and 13 mg/kg, respectively. Also, we confirmed that this technique can be applied to check the quality of commercial products such as gold film (Au foil), mineral supplement tablets, and prestigious cosmetic powders.

Comparative study of Nd:YAG laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and transversely excited atmospheric CO2 laser-induced gas plasma spectroscopy on chromated copper arsenate preservative-treated wood

“…The sample was vaporized and the atoms were excited into the gas plasma region. We have successfully demonstrated this technique for powder analyses, as reported in our previous papers [12,14].…”

A Controllable Plasmonic Resonance in a SiC-Loaded Single-Polarization Single-Mode Photonic Crystal Fiber Enables Its Application as a Compact LWIR Environmental Sensor

“…In the neighborhood of 10.6 m, CO 2 lasers and quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are ideal light sources for such a LWIR spectrometer application. The CO 2 laser systems are tunable and can be extremely powerful [ 32 , 33 ]. On the other hand, QCLs have generally replaced CO 2 lasers for low power applications in that spectral range [ 34 , 35 ].…”

Atomic spectrometry update. Industrial analysis: metals, chemicals and advanced materials

“…118 Sample with mass as low as 4 mg was immobilised on a target by mixing it with silicon grease. In a novel approach, a transversely excited atmosphere carbon dioxide laser induced helium plasma was employed for the rapid semi-quantitative analysis of very small amounts of powder.…”