Ck. Williamson et al., LASER-INDUCED BREAKDOWN SPECTROSCOPY FOR REAL-TIME DETECTION OF HALONALTERNATIVE AGENTS, Analytical chemistry, 70(6), 1998, pp. 1186-1191
We report the results of an evaluation of laser-induced breakdown spec
troscopy (LIBS) for the detection of candidate halon replacement compo
unds (CF4, CF3H, CF2H2, C2F5H) The fundamental (1.064 mu m) from a Nd:
YAG Q-switched pulsed laser was focused into an air flow containing 0
.0005-5% of the analyte halocarbon compounds, The laser-produced plasm
a emission consists of a large number of intense fluorine atom lines i
n the 600-850 nm spectral range. Limit-of-detection studies indicate t
hat LIES can detect these compounds in the parts per million range, Al
so, we have recorded single-shot LIBS spectra with good signal-to-nois
e ratios using an intensified photodiode array. Our results indicate t
hat LIBS is a promising detection technique for in situ and real-time
measurement of halons during use in full-scale fire suppression testin
g.