Enclosed inductively coupled plasma: Spatially resolved profiles of rotational temperatures and analyte atom distribution

In order to investigate evaporation and desolvation capacities of the enclo sed inductively coupled plasma discharge, rotational temperatures (which ar e commonly considered a good approximation of the heavy particle temperatur e or gas temperature) were determined as a function of their spatial distri bution and their dependence on physical parameters such as gas flows (80-74 0 mL/min), moisture load, etc. The procedure utilizes the fine structure of the (A(2)Sigma (+) --> (XIIi)-I-2) OH band having its band head at 306.4 n m. The rotational temperatures were obtained from the slopes of their Boltz mann plots. Spatial resolution and simultaneous line detection was possible by using a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera in the focal plane of the re moved exit slit of a Czerny-Turner monochromator. An interactive data langu age (EDL) program was developed to calculate the temperature distribution f rom the received CCD images. Results of the measurement show that the rotat ional temperatures are between 3750 and 4350 IL They further show the M-sha ped spatial profile of analyte intensities and temperature. In the examined gas flow range (80-740 mL/min) the dependence on absolute gas Rows and moi sture load (5 mg/L) is negligible.