A new, versatile echelle spectrometer relevant to laser induced plasma applications

Laser-induced plasma spectroscopy (LIPS) has received increasing interest i n recent times. One drawback of this technique is the fact that conventiona l Czerny-Turner spectrographs in combination with CCD cameras are very limi ted either in terms of spectral resolution or in terms of simultaneously de tectable spectral range. An echelle charge coupled device (CCD) system, all owing the simultaneous detection from 220 to 400 mn with a resolution lambd a/Delta lambda = 15 000 (4 pixels) has therefore been developed. The peculi arity is, that this echelle spectrometer, herewith referred to as EcLIPS, i s a stand-alone spectrometer. That means, it can be combined with a multitu de of intensified and non-intensified CCD cameras, which are the standard d etectors in most spectroscopic laboratories nowadays. The modular construct ion of the spectrometer allows to adapt the instrument for any chosen wavel ength region from vacuum UV to near IR by simply changing the grating and t he prism. The novel optical design of this instrument is presented in this paper and its merits are discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All righ ts reserved.