TEMPORAL CONSIDERATIONS WITH A MICROSECOND PULSED GLOW-DISCHARGE - INVITED LECTURE

A high instantaneous power microsecond pulsed glow discharge reveals m any interesting features as an ion source for atomic mass spectrometry and as a photon source for atomic emission spectroscopy. Its advantag es over a conventional continuous source are high signal intensity, te mporal profile resolution, additional sputtering control and high samp le utilization efficiency. It is demonstrated how these features may b e useful in solids elemental analysis by mass spectrometry, including thin-layer analysis. In addition, the complementary possibilities of a pulsed atomic emission source are shown for a hollow-cathode lamp and for a glow discharge cell.