Mapping of the relative abundance of arbitrary chemical elements can be done without the need of any standard samples and without the need for special sample preparation. When appropriate reference samples are available, even fully quantitative mappings can be done after calibration of the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We currently provide ready to use calibrations for aluminum alloys and low alloyed steel. The mapping of samples is not limited to metallic or electrically conductive materials. Rather, almost all materials that occur in solid form can be scanned over a large area: mineral samples, metallic alloys, biological and medical samples, or even plastics with or without coatings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following images of elemental maps show the potential of LIBS for three different applications. All measurements were performed using the Coralis laboratory analysis system<\/a>, with the spatial resolution and number of laser pulses individually adjusted for each measurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investigating the elemental content of individual minerals can be helpful for the characterization of the type of a certain deposit or to understand fundamental geological processes. Here we show results for the investigation of a rock that contains coarse hypidiomorphic tourmaline intergrown with lepidolite, quartz, Al-silicate as well as some pyrite and apatite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Figure 1 shows the relative abundance of aluminum, boron, lithium, manganese, sodium and silicon in the sample. Two different areas were scanned. An area of 40 \u00d7 40 mm (blue rectangle in Figure 1) with a spatial resolution of 400 \u03bcm and an area of 4×2 mm (yellow rectangle in Figure 1) with a spatial resolution of 50 \u03bcm. For the experiments a laser energy of 3 mJ and one laser pulse per measurement point was used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The results show that the elemental distribution inside a mineral sample can be mapped with LIBS with high spatial resolution. Compared to micro energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (\u03bc-XRF), which is another standard technique for the investigation of the elemental distribution in mineralogical samples, LIBS can also detect light elements light like lithium and boron with high sensitivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Figure 1: Relative abundance of various elements in a tourmaline (excitation wavelength: 1064 nm, laser pulse energy: 3 mJ, one laser pulses per measurement point, spatial resolution: 400 \u03bcm (left images), 50 \u03bcm (right images)). The blue rectangle marks the area in which the rough scan was performed. The yellow rectangle marks the area in which the fine scan was performed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using proper calibration models also quantitative maps can be obtained. Figure 2 shows maps of the iron concentration distribution in two copper alloy samples. One sample is a certified reference material (CRM). The second sample is the same material, which has been homogenized using a special thermal treatment. An area of ~6×6 mm was mapped with a spatial resolution of 100 \u03bcm and 30 laser pulses at each location. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The maps show that the iron is very inhomogenously distributed in the original CRM sample (left image). It contains areas of very high iron concentration (up to 25 %). In the second sample, the iron is distributed much more evenly (right image). In the lower part of the figure the distribution of the iron concentration is shown as a histogram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The histogram on the left shows a significantly broader distribution of concentration values, with the highest frequency occurring at concentration values that are well below the certified iron content of 4.61 %. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The histogram on the right shows a much narrower distribution with a peak that lies very close to the expected value. A fit of the distribution under the assumption of a normal distribution of the concentration values shows a variation of the concentration of 0.6 w.-% and a mean concentration of 5 w.-%. This example illustrates the benefits of LIBS for investigating the homogeneity of metal alloys at the microscale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Inhomogeneities, such as those found in the investigated commercial CRM sample, can lead to both significant underestimation or overestimation of an analyte\u2019s concentration if only a small area\/volume is investigated, while the average value determined for a big sample volume corresponds to the certified value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Figure 2: Distribution of the iron concentration in two copper alloys with the same chemical composition that were prepared in different ways (excitation wavelength: 1064 nm, laser pulse energy: 15 mJ, 30 laser pulses per measurement point, spatial resolution: 100 \u03bcm).<\/p>\n\n\n\n LIBS imaging is not limited to inorganic materials. Also, biological materials such as tissues, leaves and food components can be investigated with LIBS. For these applications the distribution of elements enables the exploration of uptake mechanisms, correlations with genetic identity, geographical origin or processing as well as the quality of food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As an example for imaging of a biological sample, Figure 3 shows the relative abundance of calcium, copper and iron in a cocoa bean cross-section with a spatial resolution of 300 \u03bcm. The mapping was conducted with a laser energy of 8 mJ and 25 laser pulses per measurement point. LIBS spectra were normalized to the carbon line at 247.86 nm and the relative intensity of calcium, copper and iron was plotted as a function of measurement location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When determining the value of cocoa beans for the processing industry, both the quantity and distribution of elements are essential, since the inner part of the bean is mainly used for producing cocoa mass. Imaging of the elemental composition can give information on the elemental composition of the interior tissue and shell without the necessity to separate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Figure 3: Relative abundance of calcium, copper and iron in a cocoa bean cross-section (excitation wavelength: 1064 nm, laser pulse energy: 8 mJ, 25 laser pulses per measurement point, spatial resolution: 300 \u03bcm).<\/p>\n\n\n\n V. Merk, K. Berkh, D. Rammlmair, L. Pfeifer, Chemical and Mineralogical Analysis of Samples Using Combined LIBS, Raman Spectroscopy and \u03bc-EDXRF. Minerals, 13 (2023), 729 (DOI – Link<\/a>) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Introduction Detecting the elemental composition at the microscale can be important for many applications, e.g. in mineralogy, quality control, metallurgy, etc. Due to the small laser spot diameter (below 100 \u03bcm) and the short acquisition times laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a great method for mapping the elemental composition at the microscale. Mapping of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-applications","category-ltb-academy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2319"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2337,"href":"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2319\/revisions\/2337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Mapping of mineralogical Sample<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Mineral](\"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nMapping of Copper Alloy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Copper](\"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image-1-1024x799.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nMapping of a biological Sample<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Cocoa](\"https:\/\/www.ltb-berlin.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image-2.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nReferences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
T. Steen, F. F\u00f6rste, D. Kadow, I. Mantouvalou, C. Keil, V. Merk, Elemental mapping of cocoa beans with laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology, 90 (2025), 127690 (DOI – Link<\/a>)
L. Streubel, L. Jacobsen, S. Merk, M. Thees, D. Rammlmair, J. Meima, D. Mory, Rapid Analysis of Geological Drill-Cores with LIBS. Optik & Photonik, 11 (2016), 23-27 (DOI – Link<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n