Comparison of Femtosecond and Nanosecond Boron Isotopic Ratio Measurements with Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Year
2013
Author(s)
Phyllis Ko - Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
Ben Yee - Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
Kyle Hartig - Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
Jessica McNutt - Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
Igor Jovanovic - Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
Abstract
Analysis of optical emission following a laser-induced breakdown can be used to study molecular vibrational and rotational transitions for rapid detection and identification of materials. Compared to atomic emission spectra, molecular emission spectra exhibit greater isotopic shifts, relaxing the requirements on the spectral resolution when performing isotopic characterization of nuclear materials. We compare studies of boron molecular spectra from laser-induced plasmas generated by 1064 nm Nd:YAG nanosecond laser pulses and 800 nm Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser pulses in three boron carbide samples with known isotopic compositions. Boron monoxide radicals formed in the expanding plasma plume are detected using chemometric methods.