Enhancement of Aluminum, Titanium, and Iron in Glass Using Pre-Ablation Spark Dual-Pulse LIBS

In this paper, we report the first enhanced emission for elements in a nonmetal or nonconducting matrix, glass, with the use of a pre-ablation spark. The glass samples used in this work are prototypes of samples used to immobilize inorganic waste at the Savannah River Site Vitrification Facility. We have found that using a pre-ablation spark results in larger signal enhancements, 11- to 20-fold for titanium, aluminum, and iron in glass compared to the metal under the same experimental conditions. We also demonstrate that this method is more sensitive than single-pulse LIBS experiments for the direct solid sampling of vitrified waste glass.