A novel device for spectrochemical analysis based on a combination of LIBS and a hollow cathode discharge

A new modified analytical scheme of laser ablation-hollow cathode discharge (LA- HCD) for elemental analysis is reported. The novelty is the use of a hollow cathode with a longitudinal slit. This slit enables registration of the axial species distribution in the discharge and decoupling of the laser and the analytical signals. In this paper preliminary experiments on the modified LA-HCD set-up are reported. The improved analytical performance of the new LA-HCD scheme is demonstrated by comparing it to stand-alone laser induced breakdown spectroscopy. The results of the modified LA-HCD technique show enhancement of the excitation efficiency.