Laser-induced plasma spectroscopy depth profile analysis: a contribution to authentication

Here the exploitation of the laser induced plasma spectroscopy (LIPS) depth profiling in authentication studies of copper alloy and earthenware artifacts was investigated. Such an approach to the discrimination between original and counterfeit objects is based on the examination of the amplitude and shape of elemental distributions along ablation depths of several hundred microns. Thus, its application pass through preliminary assessments and correction of possible systematic errors of the measured profiles, which was the main aim of the present work. LIPS and ESEM-EDX measurements were carried out on two archaeological findings. We show that deep analytical probing produces not negligible intrinsic broadenings of the measured elemental Sn and Ca peaks and propose a correction based on the convolution integral. According to the latter, we demonstrate the actual depth profile can be calculated from the measured one through the experimental determination of the step response and the application of trial-and-error method.