Highly sensitive detection of sodium in aqueous solutions using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy with liquid sheet jets

Nakanishi, Ryuzo; Oba, Hironori; Saeki, Morihisa; Wakaida, Ikuo; Tanabe, Rie*; Ito, Yoshiro*

Optics Express (Internet), 29(4), p.5205 - 5212, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.415308

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) combined with liquid jets was applied to the detection of trace sodium (Na) in aqueous solutions. The sensitivities of two types of liquid jets were compared: a liquid cylindrical jet with a diameter of 500 m and a liquid sheet jet with a thickness of 20 m. Compared with the cylindrical jet, the liquid sheet jet effectively reduced the splash from the laser-irradiated surface and produced long-lived luminous plasma. The limit of detection (LOD) of Na was determined to be 0.57 g/L for the sheet jet and 10.5 g/L for the cylindrical jet. The LOD obtained for the sheet jet was comparable to those obtained for commercially available inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometers.