Arrangement for carrying out laser spectral analysis

Abstract

The invention concerns an arrangement for enabling laser spectral analysis of chemical components contained in a target material, by utilizing the respective line spectra of the atoms involved. A laser beam is focused by an optical system upon the surface of the target material to evaporize portions thereof and to form a material cloud which is excited in the vicinity of the laser focus to emit a radiation. The focus itself emits a continuous radiation which passes said cloud along the longest extension of the latter and is imaged by the optical system into a spectrograph, where an absorption spectrum of the target material is produced. Simultaneously, an emission spectrum of the target material is imaged into the spectrograph when the light emitted from the material cloud at right angles to the direction of the focused laser beam is utilized. In this manner the evaluation of spectra is considerably simplified. The inventional arrangement is useful in a wide field of applications in industry and research, such as metallography, chemistry, biology and others.