LIBS operating principle

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) utilizes a high intensity short laser pulse to convert a very small amount of target material to plasma for optical analysis of the spectra. LIBS can be used on solid, liquid, or gas samples, and, depending on the spectrograph and detector, can detect all elements. LIBS is non-contact, so it can be used in a wide variety of environments, including remote analysis and micro-sampling.

When coupled with appropriate optics and stages, elemental maps of a surface can be created. Multiple LIBS scans can effectively resolve material composition throughout the volume, building a full three dimensional elemental map.