CO2 laser generation of plasma for spectroscopy and spectrochemical analysis

The paper describes the spectral properties of the optical emission from plasmas generated using a transversely excited high-pressure CO 2 laser and solid targets. The plasma emission spectra obtained using CO 2 and Nd 3+ glass lasers are compared. As a consequence of the longer wavelength of the CO 2 laser radiation, heating of the plasma by optical absorption occurs at lower plasma densities. Strong line emission is therefore observed at greater distances from the target surface, which improves discrimination between the line and continuum background emission, and pressure broadening of the spectral lines is much reduced. The application of this technique to atomic spectroscopy and spectrochemical analysis is discussed.