Rapid Quantitative Analyses of Elements on Herb Medicine and Food Powder Using TEA CO2 Laser-Induced Plasma

A novel technique for rapid quantitative analyses of elements on herb medicine and food powder has successfully been developed. In this technique, the powder samples were plugged in a small hole (2 mm in diameter and 3 mm in depth) and covered by a metal mesh. The Transversely Excited Atmospheric (TEA) CO2 laser (1500 mJ, 200 ns) was focused on the powder sample surfaces passing through the metal mesh at atmospheric pressure of nitrogen surrounding gas. It is hypothesized that the small hole functions to confine the powder particles and suppresses the blowing-off, while the metal mesh works as the source of electrons to initiate the strong gas breakdown plasma. The confined powder particles are subsequently ablated by the laser irradiation and the ablated particles move into the strong gas breakdown plasma region to be atomized and excited. Using this method, a quantitative analysis of the milk powder sample containing different concentrations of Ca was successfully demonstrated, resulting in a good linear calibration curve with high precision.