Method and apparatus for fast quantitative analysis of a material by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)

An apparatus for depth spectroscopic analysis of a material, comprising:

• an energy source for generating pulses of energy in the form of a first laser beam of predetermined pulse duration for ablation of the surface layer of the material;
• an energy source for generating pulses of energy in the form of a second laser beam of predetermined pulse duration, said second laser beam having a pulse duration less than said first laser beam;
• and,
• an energy source for generating pulses of energy in the form of a third beam of predetermined pulses duration, said third beam having intermediate pulse duration,
• to form a plasma emitting radiation representative of a selected component present in said material.

A method for analyzing bulk material by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), comprising the steps of:

• (a) scanning a surface layer of the bulk material to ablate said layer with a pulsed laser beam scanned over an area;
• (b) polishing the ablated surface with a pulsed laser beam scanned over the ablated area;
• and,
• (c) scanning the polished surface with a pulsed laser beam within the polished area with overlapped spots in order to avoid corner sites or edge sites of the scanned area.