Effect of ambient pressures on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy signals

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is regarded as the future superstar for analytical chemistry and widely applied in various fields. Improving the quality of LIBS signal is fundamental to achieving accurate quantification and large-scale commercialization of LIBS. To propose control methods that improve LIBS signal quality, it is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of the influence of key parameters, such as ambient gas pressure, temperature, and sample temperature on LIBS signals. To date, extensive research has been carried out. However, different researchers often yield significantly different experimental results for LIBS, preventing the formation of consistent conclusions. This greatly prevents the understanding of influencing laws of key parameters and the improvement of LIBS quantitative performance. Taking ambient gas pressure as an example, this paper compares the effects of ambient gas pressure under different optimization conditions, reveals the influence of spatiotemporal window caused by inherent characteristics of LIBS signal sources, i.e., intense temporal changes and spatial non-uniformity of laser-induced plasmas, on the impact patterns of key parameters. From the perspective of plasma spatiotemporal evolution, the paper elucidates the influence patterns of ambient gas pressure on LIBS signals, clarifying seemingly contradictory research results in the literature.