2nd Euro-Mediterranean Symposium on Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (EMSLIBS-II), Hersonissos, Crete, Greece, September 30–October 3, 2003

The 2nd Euro-Mediterranean Symposium on Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (EMSLIBS-II), organized by IESL-FORTH† with support from the European Research Office of the US Army Research Laboratory, took place in the resort village of Hersonissos, Crete, Greece, from September 30th to October 3rd, 2003. For this purpose over 80 scientists, including 25 students, from 20 countries came together on the island of Crete, a symbolic location in the Mediterranean, which since ancient times has been the bridge between Europe, Asia and North Africa.

This special issue of JAAS features selected papers presented during EMSLIBS-II. The symposium scientific program included 11 invited lectures, 28 contributed oral and 28 poster presentations. The scope of the symposium covered most of the LIBS thematic areas, ranging from fundamental studies to analytical applications and novel instrumentation. LIBS, also known as LIPS (laser induced plasma spectroscopy) is a straightforward analytical technique, which exploits the spectrochemical information contained in a transient micro-plasma, generated upon focusing light from a pulsed laser on a sample (solid, liquid or gas) that is being analysed. Following pioneering work in the early 1980s by L. Radziemski and D. A. Cremers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, an increasing number of scientists have been involved in LIBS research recognizing its potential in chemical analysis. Relatively simple instrumentation, speed of analysis and need for minimal or no sample preparation are among the attributes which make LIBS an attractive analytical method for probing the elemental content of materials. These features in combination with recent advances in laser sources, spectrometer and detector technologies have led to a considerable expansion of research activities worldwide in a broad array of analytical applications and novel, flexible instrumentation.

To this end, special emphasis, during EMSLIBS-II, was placed on the portable (or mobile) LIBS sensors, an emerging technology that shows great potential for field applications and real time analysis of materials relevant to a variety of problems in industry, environmental monitoring or even non-civilian applications. The latest developments in portable LIBS technology were covered in two oral presentation sessions, while future prospects were highlighted during the symposium panel discussion. Research interest has focused recently on the use of double pulses in LIBS analysis. This has resulted from breakthrough observations of signal enhancement following sample irradiation with two pulses separated in time by a few microseconds. The increased interest was reflected in the two dual-pulse LIBS sessions held on the first day of the conference. The remaining oral presentations and the poster session covered applications from industry, environmental monitoring, cultural heritage, life sciences, and the use of femtosecond lasers in LIBS analysis.

In addition to the scientific sessions, laser system and spectroscopic detector manufacturers (Andor Technology, Quantel, New Wave Research and Ocean Optics) participated in the exhibit session during the symposium, presenting their latest products in relation to LIBS technology.

Science and technology highlights

Portable and mobile LIBS sensors

Speakers presented the state-of-the-art in portable and transportable LIBS systems. Following a thorough overview of the current capabilities and challenges for field analysis by J. J. Laserna (University of Malaga, Spain), R. A. Walters of Ocean Optics Inc. (Florida, USA) presented one of the major highlights of the Symposium, a man-portable, back-pack, battery-powered LIBS system. This LIBS analyzer is directed to landmine detection and has been the outcome of collaborative research by Ocean Optics, the University of Florida and the US Army Research Laboratory. Additional homeland security applications of field LIBS sensors, including detection of explosives and biological agents, were outlined by R. S. Harmon (US Army Research Laboratory, N. Carolina, USA). Instrumentation for remote LIBS analysis of steel, developed in Malaga, was presented by S. Palanco (see p. 462, this issue) while A. Agrafenin (Russia) discussed the transportable LIBS-spark analyzer used for heavy metal detection in soil and marine sediments. Other interesting systems included the Teramobile, presented by J. Yu from Lyon 1 University, France (see p.437, this issue), a femtosecond laser based station for atmospheric research and LMNT-I, a LIBS transportable system for archaeological analyses, presented in a poster by K. Melessanaki (IESL-FORTH).

During the discussion, panelists and participants agreed on the highly promising potential of LIBS for field sensor applications as both new methodologies and novel instrumentation are continuously developed. Detection limit and reproducibility in quantitative analysis on the one hand and instrumentation cost on the other were seen as issues that need to be addressed in order for LIBS to mature for laboratory and field applications.

Dual-pulse LIBS

Presentations made in the two dual-pulse LIBS sessions focused on basic mechanistic studies aimed at understanding the effects involved in the signal enhancement, observed by several groups, following irradiation of the sample with a second laser pulse [R. Noll, ILT, Aachen, Germany (see p. 451 and 419, this issue), M. Sabsabi, NRC, Quebec, Canada and N. V. Tarasenko, IMAP, Minsk, Belarus]. Applications of the dual-pulse LIBS technique in the analysis of soils and metal samples were also presented (E. Tognoni, G. Cristoforetti, IPCF-CNR, Pisa, Italy).

Fundamental studies and femtosecond LIBS

A very interesting preliminary study by I. Schechter (Technion Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel) showed that persistent aerosols above the sample surface have substantial effects on the reproducibility of the emission signal. The effect of laser pulse duration, in LIBS analysis, was reported in two studies by A. Semerok (CEA Saclay, France) and M. Sabsabi (NRC, Quebec, Canada). The possibility to exploit, for analytical purposes, the X-rays produced as a result of the interaction of femtosecond pulses with solid samples, was presented by H. Fukumura (Ishinomaki, Sensyu University, Japan). The symposium closed with R. E. Russo (LBL, Berkeley, USA), who critically discussed femtosecond laser induced plasmas and their potential for analytical applications.

LIBS applications

Several oral and poster presentations focused on the applications of LIBS in industry, environmental, biological or cultural heritage analysis. These included, for example, the use of LIBS in blast furnace process control (A. Brysch, ILT, Aachen, Germany), sorting of minerals (M. Gaft, ITL, Rishon-Lezion, Israel) and metals (J. Makowe, ILT, Aachen, Germany), hair tissue mineral analysis for assessing toxic metal poisoning (V. Palleschi, IPCF-CNR, Pisa, Italy) and teeth analysis in samples from ancient and recent Egyptians to identify accumulation of metals due to nutritional effects (M. A. Harith, NILES, Cairo, Egypt).

Presentations and discussions throughout EMSLIBS-II maintained the scientific interaction and exchange of ideas at high levels, confirming the exciting prospects of LIBS research and technology. In this respect, we all look forward to the forthcoming LIBS 2004 meeting (3rd International Conference on Laser Induced Plasma Spectroscopy and Applications) scheduled to take place in Torremolinos, Spain, from September 28th to October 1st, 2004. EMSLIBS-III is planned for the summer of 2005 in Aachen, Germany.

At the end of the Symposium, and following the intense scientific program, the participants enjoyed a tour of the ancient palace of Knossos, a major landmark of the Minoan civilization, which flourished in Crete in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. This was followed by a short visit to a traditional music workshop and finally dinner at the village of Ano Hersonissos, where besides tasting the traditional delicacies the symposium participants demonstrated excellent dancing skills.

On behalf of the organizing committee, we wish to express our appreciation to all the speakers, poster presenters and session chairs for their contribution to a most successful symposium and acknowledge those who contributed their papers to this special symposium issue of JAAS. We would also like to acknowledge the European Research Office of the US Army Research Laboratory for financially supporting the symposium. Special thanks are due to the local task force for their tireless efforts in organizing a smooth meeting. Finally, we are truly grateful to the editorial staff at JAAS for their invaluable support in organizing and publishing this special issue.

Demetrios Anglos and Mohamed Abdel Harith

EMSLIBS-II Co-chairs

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Footnote

† The Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser is part of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas and is located in Heraklion, Crete, Greece.

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