Development of a micro-joule portable LIBS system and the preliminary results for mineral recognition

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been extensively applied due to the capabilities of real-time, multi-phase and multi-element analysis. With the advantages, portable LIBS is in rapid development with great potential of field measurements. In this work, a portable LIBS was developed by a 50 μJ level laser for excitation and an objective lens for focusing or imaging. Element detection was successfully achieved by this setup, and also the microscopic observation could be obtained with the magnification of 350×. A preliminary investigation was carried out for mineral recognition by the developed portable LIBS. The obtained results indicate that the element detection combined with micro observation was an effective way for recognizing minerals, especially for similar mineral identification or discrimination. It is suggested that the micro-joule laser could be alternative for the commercial portable LIBS, and the on-site mineral or rock recognition is a promising field for the application.