Detection of pollutants in liquids by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy technique

LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) is an innovative technique which has proven very valuable in the accurate measurement of trace concentration of atomic pollutants in gas and solids. Given these positive characteristics and the good results obtained on the field by LIBS technique, either in industrial exhausts monitoring and polluted soil analysis, one could ask about the possibility of applying the fundamentals of LIBS method to the study of polluted liquids, in particular water. The group at IFAM-CNR (Pisa) has been conducting extensive researches for verifying the reliability of LIBS analysis of polluted water, with the aim of developing a diagnostic device suitable for in situ continuous monitoring operation. The main goal of the authors' research was to keep the experimental setup as simple as possible, but still to maintain a sensitivity for trace pollutants concentrations useful for actual detection of potentially dangerous pollution levels in the sample under analysis.