The Enhanced Effect of Optical Emission from Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy of an Al-Li Alloy in the Presence of Magnetic Field Confinement^*

In this paper, the influence of magnetic field strength on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been investigated for various pressures. The plasma plume was produced by employing Q-switch Nd:YAG laser ablation of an Al-Li alloy operating at a 1064 nm wavelength. The results indicated that the LIBS intensity of the Al and Li emission lines is boosted with an increase of magnetic strength. Typically, the intensity of the Al I and Li I spectral emissions can be magnified by 1.5-3 times in a steady magnetic field of 1.1 T compared with the field-free case. Also, in this investigation we recorded time-resolved images of the laser-produced plume by employing a fast ICCD camera. The results show that the luminance of the plasma is enhanced and the time of persistence is increased significantly, and the plasma plume splits into two lobes in the presence of a magnetic field. The probable reason for the enhancement is the magnetic confinement effect which increases the number density of excited atoms and the population of species in a high energy state. In addition, the electron temperature and density are also augmented by the magnetic field compared to the field-free case.