Novel laser atomic fluorescence spectrometer for environmental and biomedical analyses of heavy metals

摘要

We report on the development of a novel experimental set-up using laser atomic fluorescence for detection and concentration measurements of heavy metal atoms for environmental and biomedical analyses. This spectrometer is based on the application of tunable LiF:F{sub}2{sup}(+**) and LiF:F{sub}2{sup}- color center and alexandrite lasers with nonlinear converters for narrowband excitation of atomic fluorescence and the use of gated multichannel CCD detectors for fluorescence measurements. A standard graphite furnace module was used for sample atomization. The laser sources used provide narrowband selective laser excitation continuously tunable in the 200-400 nm range and are therefore suitable for resonant excitation of atomic transitions in practically all known heavy metal atoms. In the first experiments, water samples containing Cu, Pb and Fe impurities were studied and detection levels of less than 1 ppb were observed. Comparison of the results of atomic laser fluorescence analysis and traditional atomic absorption spectrometry showed good qualitative agreement between these two methods. It is projected that full optimization of our experimental set up will allow for improved detection levels of several orders of magnitude. Possible optimization and simplification of the spectrometer are discussed in the context of developing a portable instrument for field use.