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The analytical exploitation of the laser induced plasma suffers from its transient behavior due to some nonlinear effects. These phenomena are matrix-dependent and limit the use of LIBS to mostly semi-quantitative precision. The plasma parameters have to be kept as constant as possible during LIBS measurements. Studying archaeological bone samples using LIBS technique could be more difficult since these samples are less tough in their texture than many other solid samples. Thus, the ablation process could change the sample morphological features rapidly resulting in poor reproducibility and statistics. Furthermore archaeological bones are subjected to diagenesis effects due to burial environment and postmortem effects. In the present work comparative analytical study of UV (266 nm) and IR (1064 nm) LIBS for archaeological bone samples belonging to four ancient Egyptian dynasties representing the middle kingdom (1980–1630 BC), 2nd intermediate period (1630–1539/23 BC), Roman–Greek period (30 BC–A.D. 395) and the late period (664–332 BC). Measurements have been performed under identical experimental conditions except the laser wavelength to examine its effects. Elemental fluctuations within the same dynasty were studied for reliable information about each dynasty. The analytical results demonstrated that UV-LIBS gives a more realistic picture for bone elemental composition within the same dynasty, and bone ash could be more suitable as a reference material for bone calibration in the case of UV-LIBS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In most laser-based analytical methods, the reproducibility of quantitative measurements strongly depends on maintaining uniform and stable experimental conditions. For LIBS analysis this means that for accurate estimation of elemental concentration, using the calibration curves obtained from reference samples, the plasma parameters have to be kept as constant as possible. In addition, calcified tissues such as bone are normally less “tough” in their texture than many samples, especially metals. Thus, the ablation process could change the sample morphological features rapidly, and result in poor reproducibility statistics. In the present work, three artificial reference sample sets have been fabricated. These samples represent three different calcium based matrices, CaCO3 matrix, bone ash matrix and Ca hydroxyapatite matrix. A comparative study of UV (266nm) and IR (1064nm) LIBS for these three sets of samples has been performed under similar experimental conditions for the two systems (laser energy, spot size, repetition rate, irradiance, etc.) to examine the wavelength effect. The analytical results demonstrated that UV-LIBS has improved reproducibility, precision, stable plasma conditions, better linear fitting, and the reduction of matrix effects. Bone ash could be used as a suitable standard reference material for calcified tissue calibration using LIBS with a 266nm excitation wavelength. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]