Formation and emission characteristics of CN molecules in laser induced low pressure He plasma and its applications to N analysis in coal and fossilization study

Presented in this paper are the results of an experimental study on the laser induced plasma emission of a number of CN free samples (urea, sucrose) with 40 mJ pulse energy using He and N-2 ambient gases. It is shown that the CN emission has its exclusive sources in the molecules produced as the result of chemical bonding either between the ablated C and N ions in the He plasma or between the ablated C and dissociated N from the N-2 ambient gas. The emission intensities in both cases are found to have the highest values at the low gas pressure of 2 kPa. The emission in He gas is shown to exhibit the typical characteristics related to a shockwave generated excitation mechanism. The experiments using He ambient gas further demonstrate the feasible laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy application to quantitative and sensitive N analysis of coal and promising application for practical in situ carbon dating of fossils. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America