A capacitively heated tungsten spiral atomiser for atomic fluorescence spectrometric analysis

Abstract

A pulsed tungsten spiral atomiser is described for atomic fluorescence spectrometric analysis. The design is shown to reduce emission and scattering signals, and also creates an atomic beam with small linear dimensions. Considering Ag as an example, the amplitude of the fluorescence signal has been found to increase with an increasing rate of heating. The detection limits for Cd, Ag, Cu, Bi, Pb, Zn, Mn and Te obtained with the aid of the new atomiser are of the order of 10^–11–10^–15 g and comparable to and, in some instances, exceed those for the graphite atomisers used in atomic absorption spectrometry.