Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS): a Future Super Star of Atomic Spectrometry and its Application to Biological Systems

Steven J. Rehse

Department of Physics and Astronomy , Wayne State University

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (also known as LIBS) is an atomic spectroscopic technique which uses short, intense laser pulses to both create a high-temperature (10,000 K) micro-plasma and seed this plasma with atoms from a target material of interest. Atoms from all elements in the target are excited and ionized in this micro-plasma. At a suitable delay time after plasma ignition spontaneous emission from the atoms or ions in the plasma is collected and dispersed spectroscopically for analysis. This talk will describe the sample ablation (atomization) process, the plasma formation mechanism, and detail the qualitative and quantitative measurements that can be performed with this technique. Lastly, highlights of our research effort at Wayne State University to utilize LIBS in biological systems, particularly simulated human tissue and bacteria samples, will be presented.