Chemical and Physical Influences of the Atmosphere upon the Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Atomic Fluorescence in a Laser Microprobe Plume

Abstract

Atomic fluorescence observations of Li and Cu in a laser microprobe plume were made to study the chemical and physical influences of a reactive atmosphere of oxygen relative to an atmosphere of argon. Time and spatially resolved fluorescence observations show a region of relatively low concentration of Li in the center of the plume from a film emulsion sample, which is not present for Cu from an aluminum alloy sample. For both samples, the plume appears to rise as a ball above the sample, rather than fan out continuously throughout the atmosphere.