title: Nanosecond polarization-resolved laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy.
abstract: It is shown that the continuum emission produced in the ablation of an Al target with nanosecond laser pulses is much more strongly polarized than the discrete line emission. This effect may be utilized to improve the resolution of the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy spectrum by using a polarizer to filter out the continuum background. The effects of laser fluence and focal position are also reported. It is further shown that the lifetime of the emission closely tracks the intensity spectrum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607-7061, USA.
authors.forename: Yaoming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Penczak
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Gordon