LIBS

Microscope managers

Loic Sorbier (IFPEN), Yannick Blouet (IFPEN), Frederic Filali (IFPEN)

Presentation of the device

LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) involves sending a pulsed laser beam onto a sample. The power density deposited locally by the laser beam is great enough to ablate the material and create a plasma (a mixture of ions and electrons at a temperature of 6,000 to 10,000 K) from the ablation crater. This short-lived plasma emits light. One or more spectrometers can be used to acquire the optical emission spectra of this plasma, enabling the elemental composition of the ablation crater to be determined. LIBS provides elemental images with a lateral resolution of 10 µm to 100 µm.

The microscope is owned by IFPEN, which has made it partially available to CLYM members.

Device features

The ABLATOM ELM-XS-1 (2021) machine is equipped with:

• A nanosecond Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm;
• Two optical spectrometers;
• Two ICCD cameras (each mounted on a spectrometer) and one EMCCD camera (dedicated to Vis-NIR);
• A sample stage for imaging surfaces < 10 cm *10 cm;
• An argon blowing system to stabilize the plasma;
• A vacuum system to remove dust generated by ablation.