DIRECT ANALYSIS OF LIQUID AND SOLID SAMPLES WITHOUT SAMPLE PREPARATION USING LASER-ENHANCED IONIZATION

Laser-enhanced ionization combined with rod-flame and graphite furnace atomizers-ionizers was used for direct analyses of high-purity orthophosphoric acid, germanium, CdHgTe alloy and silver nitrate. In standard aqueous solutions both systems give detection limits for elements down to the 1 x 10(-15) g level. The examples of CdHgTe alloys and germanium show that the transition from the analysis of solutions to the direct analysis of solid samples in a rod-flame system leads to a decrease in the matrix background signal of over two orders of magnitude. This allows for the detection of elements in solid samples without sample preparation, with detection limits down to 1 X 10(-6) ppm , which is 100 times better than for solutions. The problems with and prospects for the proposed approach are discussed.