title: Evaluation of femtosecond LIBS for spectrochemical microanalysis of aluminium alloys.
abstract: The analytical performance of femtosecond laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for elemental microanalysis of aluminium alloys and for mapping precipitate distribution on the sample surface has been studied in detail. A Ti-sapphire laser system producing pulses of 130 fs at 800 nm was used to generate the laser-induced plasma. Multi-element microanalysis of commercially available aluminium alloys was performed in air at atmospheric pressure. Crater characteristics such as diameter and crater morphology were characterized by optical and scanning-electron microscopy. Scaling of plasma emission and limit of detection as a function of laser pulse energy was also investigated. Current experimental results are presented and are compared with previous nanosecond microLIBS measurements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2V4. igorc@ece.ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Igor V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Cravetchi
authors.forename: Mike T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Taschuk
authors.forename: Ying Y
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Tsui
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fedosejevs