Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy compared with conventional plasma optical emission techniques for the analysis of metals - A review of applications and analytical performance

The electrical spark and glow discharge optical emission sources are described and compared with the more modern Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy technique, focussed on applications related to the metallurgical industry. It is shown that for applications well suited for spark and glow discharges, they still have a slight edge in analytical performance and practical handling. The strength of LIBS is in applications not possible by the other techniques, in particular on-line and standoff analysis.156