Further development of the ‘bent’ tube water cooled atom trap for arsenic, antimony, copper and manganese

Abstract

A dual ‘bent’ tube water cooled atom trap was optimized for the detection of As, Sb, Cu and Mn. The parameters optimized were fuel flow, percentage obscuration of the light beam, and the height of the tubes above the burner. It was found that high fuel flow, high percentage obscuration and low tube height were critical in obtaining high sensitivity. Atomization times from the surface of the silica tubes have been related to the physical properties of the four elements under study and for a further three elements, namely Sn, Cd, and Pb, this was necessary for the construction of the model, using ordinary least squares analysis. The reasons for this are discussed. The sensitivities for As, Sb. Cu and Mn, using this technique were 8.6, 8, 0.93 and 0.38 ng ml^–1, respectively.