An Innovative Approach to Meteorite Analysis by Laser‐Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Abstract

An innovative approach of double pulse laser‐induced breakdown spectroscopy (DP‐LIBS) coupled with optical microscopy was applied to the characterisation and quantitative analysis of the Agoudal iron meteorite in bulk sample and in petrographic thin section. Qualitative analysis identified the elements Ca, Co, Fe, Ga, Li and Ni in the thin section and the whole meteorite. Two different methods, calibration‐free LIBS and one‐point calibration LIBS, were used as complementary methodologies for quantitative LIBS analysis. The elemental composition data obtained by LIBS were in good agreement with the compositional analyses obtained by traditional methods generally applied for the analysis of meteorites, such as ICP‐MS and EDS‐SEM. Besides the recognised advantages of LIBS over traditional techniques, including versatility, minimal destructivity, lack of waste production, low operating costs, rapidity of analysis, availability of transportable or portable systems, etc., additional advantages of this technique in the analysis of meteorites are precision and accuracy, sensitivity to low atomic number elements such as Li and the capacity to detect and quantify Co contents that cannot be obtained by EDS‐SEM.

Handheld Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Instrumentation Applied to the Rapid Discrimination between Iron Meteorites and Meteor‐Wrongs

“…Some slightly higher deviations might be due to small differences in the ablation efficiency and/or to the different dimensions of the sample grains and/or minerals. The quantitative composition of the Agoudal meteorite obtained by the CF treatment of data measured by the handheld LIBS instrument showed some differences from the corresponding data obtained in a previous study by a portable l-LIBS system (Senesi et al 2016) and the reference ICP-MS data from the literature (Chennaoui Aoudjehane et al 2013; Table 2). Although the Fe content was in good agreement, differences were found for Ni and Co contents measured by the three techniques.…”

“…The quantitative composition of the Agoudal meteorite obtained by the CF treatment of data measured by the handheld LIBS instrument showed some differences from the corresponding data obtained in a previous study by a portable μ‐LIBS system (Senesi et al . ) and the reference ICP‐MS data from the literature (Chennaoui Aoudjehane et al . ; Table ).…”

“…) and portable (Senesi et al . ) LIBS systems showed promising in meteorite analysis. Very recently a portable handheld LIBS instrument, associated with a multivariate calibration treatment of the LIBS spectra acquired in the ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) spectral ranges, was used successfully for the in situ quantitative measurement of Si, Al, Mg, Ca, Ba, Na and Fe mass fractions in weathered terrestrial meteorite analogues (black steel slag and impact glasses; Gómez‐Nubla et al .…”

“…With respect to the various destructive and expensive traditional analytical techniques generally used, the elemental determination performed by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) shows significant advantages, including sensitivity to light elements, versatility, minimal destructivity, rapidity, relatively low operating costs, and the possibility of in-field operations (Cremers and Radziemski 2006, Harmon et al 2013, Senesi 2014. In previous studies, bench-top (Thompson et al 2006, De Giacomo et al 2007, Dell'Aglio et al 2010, Cousin et al 2012, Hor n a ckov a et al 2014) and portable (Senesi et al 2016) LIBS systems showed promising in meteorite analysis. Very recently a portable handheld LIBS instrument, associated with a multivariate calibration treatment of the LIBS spectra acquired in the ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) spectral ranges, was used successfully for the in situ quantitative measurement of Si, Al, Mg, Ca, Ba, Na and Fe mass fractions in weathered terrestrial meteorite analogues (black steel slag and impact glasses; G omez-Nubla et al 2018).…”

Classification of Geological Samples Based on Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

“…lines, even when having a similar chemical composition of the geological samples [38]. erefore, these in uences can be useful in studies for recognizing similar geological samples.…”