Atomic emission spectrometric analysis of steel and glass using a TEA CO2 laser-induced shock wave plasma

The shock wave plasma induced by the bombardment of laser light coming from a commercial TEA CO2 laser has been used for the direct elemental analysis of solid samples. By using standard low-alloy steel samples, it is demonstrated that there is a linear relationship between the Cr content and the emission intensity, using an internal standard method. A background equivalent concentration for the Mg 383.8 nm emission line is found to be as low as about 0.005% in glass samples.