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The review mainly deals with two topics that became important in applications of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in recent years: the emission of halogen- and rare-earth-containing molecules and selective excitation of molecules by molecular laser-induced fluorescence (MLIF). The first topic is related to the emission of alkaline-earth diatomic halides MX, M = Ca, Mg, Ba, Sr and X = F, Cl, Br, and I and rare-earth element (REE) oxides LaO, YO, and ScO. These molecules form in laser-induced plasma (LIP) soon after its ignition and persist for a long time, emitting broad bands in a visible part of the spectrum. They are best detected after relatively long delay times when emission from interfering plasma species (atoms and ions) has already been quenched. Such behavior of molecular spectra allows of using, for their detection, inexpensive CCD detectors equipped with simple electronic or mechanical shutters and low-resolution spectrometers. A main target for analysis by molecular spectroscopy is halogens; these elements are difficult to detect by atomic spectroscopy because their most intense atomic lines lie in the vacuum UV. Therefore, in many situations, emission from CaF and CaCl may provide a substantially more sensitive detection of F and Cl than emission from elemental F and Cl and their ions. This proved to be important in mining and concrete industries and even Mars exploration. A similar situation is observed for REEs; their detection by atomic spectroscopy sometimes fails even despite the abundance of atomic and ionic REEs' lines in the UV-VIS. For example, in minerals and rocks with low concentrations of REEs, emission from major and minor mineral elements hinders the weak emission from REEs. Many REEs do not form molecules that show strong emission bands in LIP but can still be detected with the aid of LIP. All REEs except La, Y, and Sc exhibit long-lived luminescence in solid matrices that is easily excited by LIP. The luminescence can be detected simultaneously with molecular emission of species in LIP within the same time and spectral window. The second topic is related to the combination of MLIF and LIBS, which is a technique that was proved to be efficient for analysis of isotopic molecules in LIP. For example, the characteristic spectral signals from isotopic molecules containing 10B and 11B are easier to detect with MLIF-LIBS than with laser ablation molecular isotopic spectrometry (LAMIS) because MLIF provides strong resonance excitation of only targeted isotopes. The technique is also very efficient in detection of halogen molecules although it requires an additional tunable laser that makes the experimental setup bulky and more expensive.
Our recent study was focused on the emission from Laser Induced Plasma (LIP) at the delay times of tenths of microseconds after the laser pulse. At these long delays, the spectrum is dominated by the broadband molecular emission and plasma induced luminescence (PIL) produced by a luminescent matrix; only solitary atomic emission lines can be seen. Barium fluoride BaF2 activated by thulium (Tm) is a famous scintillator that presents the promising object for LIP in terms of both the potential for BaF molecular emission and Tm3+ PIL. The detection of molecular and PIL bands presents a new opportunity for analysis of halogens and rare-earth elements, which are the difficult objects for LIBS. In this paper, we show that the UV, Green, Extreme Red, and Infrared molecular bands from BaF and blue luminescence from Tm3+ are present in the LIP emission spectra while the detection of atomic Emission from F I and Tm I was impossible with the same experimental setup. Thus, the detection of molecular emission and PIL can be more sensitive than the traditional detection of Emission from atoms and ions.
We found cascade IR generation in Al laser induced plasma. This generation includes doublet transitions 3s25s 2S1∕2→ 3s24p 2P1∕2,3∕2 → 3s24s 2S1∕2; corresponding to strong lines at 2110 and 2117 nm, and much weaker lines at 1312–1315 nm. The 3s25s2S 1∕2 starting IR generation level is directly pumped from the 3s23p 2P3∕2 ground level. The starting level for UV generation at 396.2 nm (transitions 3s24s 2S1∕2 → 4p 2P3∕2) is populated due to the fast collisional processes in the plasma plume. These differences led to different time and special dependences on the lasing in the IR and UV spectral range within the aluminum laser induced plasma.
The stimulated emission (SE) in aluminum laser-induced plasma pumped in resonance with the 3s23p − 3s24s aluminum transition at 266.04 nm is investigated experimentally. It is shown that the population Inversion between the 3s23p and 3s24s states can be created by weak pumping at several microjoule to millijoule pulse energies and result in high gain. The intensity of the SE at 396.15 nm is related to the number density of Al Atoms via absorption measurements. It is found that the SE in forward and backward directions with respect to the pumping laser is different in terms of the line shape and intensity that is attributed to inhomogeneity in a gain coefficient across the plasma plume.
The stimulated emission (SE) in aluminum laser-induced plasma pumped in resonance with the 3s²3p-3s²4s aluminum transition at 266.04 nm is modeled. A collisional-radiative plasma model based on kinetic equations is proposed to explain the creation of the population inversion and lasing. The model predicts fast depopulation of the ground 3s²3p state by the absorption of resonant laser light at 266 nm and very fast population of the excited 3s²4s state by the cascade transitions from the laser-pumped level, which is driven optically and by collisions. The SE of the 3s²3p-3s²4s transition at 396.15 nm is studied and possible SE at 1.3 and 2.1 μm is predicted. It is confirmed by calculations that the population inversion between the 3s²3p and 3s²4s states can be created by weak pumping at several microjoule–millijoule pulse energies and results in high gain.
The lasing effect is demonstrated in laser plasmas induced on various metal targets and pumped by a laser tuned in resonance with a strong optical transition of a metal. The intense, polarized and lowdivergent radiation is emitted from a longitudinally pumped plasma plume in forward and backward directions with respect to the pump beam. Lasing occurs only within duration of the pumping pulse. The effect is found for elements of 13th and 14th groups and for Ca, Ti, Zr, Fe and Ni. The Einstein coefficients for spontaneous emission of all lasing transitions are higher than 10⁷ s⁻¹. For some elements like Al and In, a three-level lasing scheme is realized. For others, like Tl, both three- and four-level lasing schemes are realized. It is found that the longitudinal pump geometry is more efficient than the transversal one.
The emission from doubly ionized species in laser-induced plasmas has not been properly investigated before since most analytical measurements were made at relatively long delays. This work proves that doubly ionized species, such as boron (B) III and iron (Fe) III, can exist during the first 150200 ns of the plasma lifetime in plasmas produced in air by typical lasers with irradiances of 109 1011 W/cm². The emission from these ions was detected using both the double- and single-pulse excitations.
The sum of the second ionization potential and the energy of corresponding excited states is approximately 30 eV. The presence of doubly charged ions in the early plasma was additionally confirmed by computer simulations using a collision-dominated plasma model. The Emission from doubly ionized species may be used for analytical purpose. For example, in the spectrum from a B–Fe ore, the B III analytical line at 206.6 nm is free from Fe spectral interference thus enabling the online laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy sorting of ores into three products with high, medium, and low B2O3 contents.
Comparison of single and double-pulse excitation during the earliest stage of laser induced plasma
(2011)
This paper deals with comparison of single-pulse (SP) and double-pulse (DP) excited plasmas during their earliest phase of life, from 0 to 500 ns. The samples are Si and Al and the irradiance per pulse is approximately 20 GWcm-2 under ambient conditions. It was found that at the beginning of a plasma lifespan, Si III and Al III ions were excited even under the SP excitation conditions and became much more abundant under DP excitation. The lifetime of doubly-ionized species was found to be very short, and after a delay of 200–300 ns they were not detected. The DP plasma differs from the SP plasma by the intensity of continuum radiation and by the width of emission lines, which are substantially narrower in the DP plasma. The intensity of light emitted from singly and, especially, doubly-ionized species is higher compared with neutral atoms; whereas the decay time of both neutral and ionized species is longer. An excitation mechanism for the DP plasma is proposed enabling qualitative and a quantitative explanation of the experimental data.