Complementary Laser Based Spectroscopies

In any practical application in the mineralogy field the main task is composition analyses. There is no single detection technique that can by itself provide a 100 % probability of different minerals detection combined with a low false alarm rate. We suggest system approach, which combines different laser-based technologies having orthogonal detection and identification capabilities. In such a way the strength of one technique may compensate for the weaknesses of the others, and the vulnerability of one detection device could be compensated for by another detection device. Clever combination of the detection techniques may achieve detection probabilities and false alarm rates that are more acceptable than those of systems based on one method only. 

The same equipment, which is used for time-resolved luminescence application is suitable for other laser-based spectroscopies. Thus several spectroscopic methods may be applied simultaneously. The mostly important technique, which may be used together with time-resolved luminescence, is laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Several books have been recently published devoted to Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) (Cremers and Radziemski 2013 Miziolek et al. 2006 Singh and Thakur 2007 Noll 2012 Hahn and Omenetto 2010 Hahn and Omenetto 2012). LIBS aspects were considered applied to the analysis of minerals, rocks and related materials (Senesi 2014). Thus only the theoretical aspects which are the mostly relevant to our research devoted to the real time online quality control of minerals will be considered. 

Gaft et al., Modern Luminescence Spectroscopy of Minerals and Materials, Springer Mineralogy, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-24765-6 6 

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