A time-resolved imaging study of Cr (I) emissions from a laser plasma formed on a sample at nonnormal incidence

The effect of sample orientation on atomic emission in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was studied using time-resolved imaging and spectroscopy. The purpose of this work was to determine the effect of sampling geometry on the analytical performance of the LIBS measurement. The results obtained indicate that atoms are ejected perpendicular to the sample surface independent of the angle-of-incidence of the laser pulse. This result is consistent with previous work by others. In addition, it was found that the observed LIBS atomic emission intensities were maximum for normal laser pulse incidence, reached a minimum at 50° angle-of-incidence, and then increased as the sample was rotated to higher angles-of-incidence