Analytical Services:
Inductively Coupled Plasma - Optical Emission Spectrometry
(ICP - OES)
LSM Analytical Services large range of analytical techniques includes instrumentation for ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectroscopy).
Optical emission spectrometers determine analyte concentration via a quantitative measurement of the optical emission from excited atoms.
When a material is heated sufficiently it will emit visible light in a discrete spectrum, characteristic of the elements in the material. Each element has its unique atomic emission spectrum (both visible light and x-rays).
There are 3 common methods to heat a sample to produce the optical emission:
• arc/spark instruments; heat in a spark discharge
• ICP; dissolve sample in acid and “burn” the solution in an argon plasma
• Glow discharge; sputter the surface with argon, and excite the sputtered atoms
The ICP is simply the means by which the heat is generated. The ICP is essentially a high energy source (plasma) to raise the energy levels of electrons, and so induce an optical emission.
There are 3 stages in the life of a light beam; it is created it travels through space and it is destroyed. The ICP is the means used to create the light beam. It is the interaction of light with electrons, which is responsible for its creation and destruction.
In terms of the dual wave and particle like behaviour of light, it is simplest to envisage the particle like behaviour in terms of photons. As described under atomic absorption, electrons can be raised to higher energy by absorbing photons (destroy light), or move to lower energies by giving off a photon (create light).
In atoms, the electrons are negatively charged and are held or bound by the positively charged protons in the nucleus of the atom. It is the specific binding energy of different elements, which determines their specific optical emissions.
Heat encourages light to be emitted over the whole energy region of visible light. The purpose of the ICP is to produce a spectrum of narrow lines, distributed in energy across the visible spectrum. Each line is characterised by the element atom, which emits the light.
The detection limits that ICP analysis can be performed to is determined by the equipment, and LSMs recent investment in state of the art technology allows detection limits in ppb parts per billion to be achieved.
> Click here for our Quotation Request Form
Contact:
Telephone Customer Services: +44 (0) 1709 833763 and +44 (0) 1709 833762
Fax: +44 (0) 1709 830391
Email: labsales@lsm.co.uk
Address: Fullerton Road, Rotherham, South Yorkshire S60 1DL, England.
> Click here for our Map/Directions
 Bitte wählen Sie Ihre Sprache |
 Por favor, seleccione su idioma |
Oxygen, Hydrogen Analysers
