Development of a Remote Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Setup for Analysis of Archaeological Objects
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| Year of publication | 2011 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | LIBS has emerged as a very promising technique for the analysis and characterization of a broad variety of objects of cultural heritage including pottery, sculpture, metal and stone objects. One of the numerous modifications of LIBS is the so-called remote LIBS (rLIBS), which is applicable to stand-off analyses of solid, liquid, and gas samples. Using our rLIBS setup under development, we proved that remote LIBS has the analytical potential for analyses of calcified organic tissues in the open air over a range of several meters. The sensitivity on selected P, Mg, Na, Zn, and Sr emission lines is sufficient for quantification of these elements. The results show that the measured quantities of minor elements by Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and remote LIBS are comparable at a semiquantitative level. It was concluded that the designed rLIBS setup with a relatively large collecting mirror is capable of analysis at the level of units of mg kg-1. It was also shown that the combination of artificial neural networks (ANN) and rLIBS spectrometry can become a powerful tool for the identification of biominerals or brick samples. The combination of ANN + rLIBS can be used for fast semiquantitative analysis of different brick samples; the chemical, physical and mechanical properties of bricks can be monitored. Using rLIBS the different type, origin and degree and cause of the damage on the studied masonry may be classified. This can help e.g. in the selection of compatible materials for the replacement of original bricks that is crucial in order to avoid damage to the historical structure. Here we present the recent development of the rLIBS setup primarily constructed for analysis of archaeological objects. We will focus on the characterization of brick samples using the advanced version of this setup. The outcomes will be compared with the results obtained on the same samples in the laboratory of our Chinese partner. |
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