Multianalytical characterization of Late Roman glasses including nanosecond and femtosecond laser induced breakdown spectroscopy

Abstract

In the present study, a historical set of Late Roman glasses coming from a recently unearthed graveyard located in the small city of Cubas de la Sagra, within the Madrid region (Spain) was compositionally analysed using different techniques such as ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) and laser induced fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopies, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). LIBS results, recorded upon nanosecond (ns) and femtosecond (fs) laser irradiation, served for identification of major glass components (to classify them into main historical glass groups) and of minor components (e.g. chromophores, decolouring agents and degradation products). Quantitative information regarding these components was obtained on the basis of calibration curves obtained using glass certified standards and local standards. We have demonstrated that LIBS serves for the noninvasive/micro-destructive, quantitative chemical characterization of most of the analysed historical glasses. Furthermore, this work establishes a comparison between LIBS analysis of glasses in the ns and fs regimes on one hand, and on the other hand with the results obtained 2 using XRF. The procedures and protocols here proposed can be applied for in-situ study of historical glass collections, regardless of their size, provenance and chronology.

Imaging spectroscopy of Ag plasmas produced by infrared nanosecond laser ablation

“…Pulsed laser ablation (PLA) is the process of removing material from a solid or occasionally liquid surface by irradiating it with a high-power pulsed laser. This technique for depositing and processing materials is an important area of modern experimental and theoretical scientific research and development, with challenging applications in the fields of pulsed laser deposition, 1 laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, 2,3 surface modification, 4 nanofabrication and nanostructuring, 5 laser propulsion, 6 medicine, 7,8 environmental analysis 9 and harmonic generation. 10,11 Understanding the fundamental mechanisms and properties of laser-material interactions, as well as deposition and processing conditions, laser parameters and material properties, is essential for improving fundamental knowledge and applications.…”

Analysis of heritage stones and model wall paintings by pulsed laser excitation of Raman, laser-induced fluorescence and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy signals with a hybrid system

“…Laser spectroscopies, such as Raman, laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) are widely used for analysis of materials and substrates of cultural heritage [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Raman and LIBS have been commonly used together as they provide complementary information on molecular and elemental composition, respectively and in several studies, this combined approach has led to the integrated characterization of pigments and minerals [13][14][15][16][17].…”

“…LIBS has been used in a wide variety of analytical applications for the qualitative, semiquantitative and quantitative analysis of materials and offers specific features of particular relevance in the context of analysis of cultural heritage materials [1,2,[10][11][12]. A recent work has showed the effect of irradiation wavelength on the analysis by LIBS of painting samples, concluding that short wavelengths favour the characterization of this kind of substrates [21].…”

Characterization of medieval-like glass alteration layers by laser spectroscopy and nonlinear optical microscopy

“…laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) are complementary techniques for the characterization of historical glasses. LIBS is micro-invasive and capable to determine the chemical elemental composition of historical glasses and alteration layers with stratigraphic capability [33][34][35][36][37]. On the other hand, LIF provides non-invasive superficial analytical information and facilitates the detection of trace elements and/or chromophores responsible of glass coloration [33,38].…”