Fast Atomic Mapping of Heterogeneous Surfaces Using Microline-Imaging Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectrometry

A new approach for quick simultaneous and multielemental characterization of heterogeneous solid samples using laser-induced breakdown spectrometry (LIBS) is presented. The basic idea relies on focusing the incident laser beam with a cylindrical lens to produce a long and narrow microline plasma. The emitted light is then projected along the spectrograph slit, where each ablated location on the sample generates a signal at a defined height, and acquired with a charge-coupled device (CCD) detector. The method has been tested for compositional mapping of solar cells, enabling a 25-fold increase of analysis speed as compared to conventional LIBS configuration.