Assessment and application of diode laser induced fluorescence spectrometry in an inductively coupled plasma to the determination of lithium

A diode laser based system for the detection of Li in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) by diode laser induced fluorescence (DLIF-ICP) has been developed and successfully applied to the determination of lithium in several mineral waters and a thermal salt. The experimental setup is based on an unmodulated, continuous wave diode laser, emitting light at around 670 nm and exciting neutral Li atoms on their 2s 2S-2p 2P° transition, which was coupled to a commercial ICP atomic emission spectrometer. The spectrometer's monochromator, photomultiplier detector and built-in data acquisition software were utilized to collect background corrected fluorescence and emission signals. A simple, three-step measurement procedure was devised that corrected for the contribution of lithium thermal emission and scattered laser light in the analytical signals. Despite the facts that lithium was detected on its neutral atom, which accounts for less than 1% of the total concentration of Li in the ICP, and that only about 1-2% of all atoms could be excited by the laser light at any given time, the limit of detection (LOD) was still found to be as good as 8 μg/L. The LODs of the DLIF-ICP technique are therefore expected to be in the low ng/L range for elements that can be detected under more advantageous conditions. The linear dynamic range was found to be around three orders of magnitude.