Resonant laser ablation—a novel surface analytic technique

Abstract Resonant laser ablation (RLA) is a novel surface analytical technique which has been investigated by detecting small quantities of aluminium in NIST SRM steel samples 1263A and 1261A. From the results obtained it has been estimated that detection levels down to a few ppm are achievable by RLA for aluminium in steel samples. The procedure described in this paper has also been used to measure ion to neutral atom yields for the laser-metal interaction at low laser fluences.