Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy and Ultrafast Surface Engineering
This community develops laser-based techniques for rapid elemental analysis of materials and for the precise modification of solid surfaces, serving applications in industrial quality control, environmental monitoring, and advanced manufacturing.
The work centers on two primary technical streams: laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for quantitative elemental detection and ultrafast laser processing for surface structuring. Recurring methods include femtosecond and nanosecond laser ablation, laser cleaning, and the generation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS). Materials frequently analyzed or processed include stainless steel, aluminum alloys, silicon, and various thin films. Applications range from detecting heavy metals in soil and industrial emissions to fabricating functional nanostructures and cleaning optical components. The integration of machine learning for spectral data analysis is also a prominent recent theme, enhancing the precision of elemental identification in complex matrices.
The largest share of the community's output is found in yttrium research, representing 2.4% of all tracked yttrium papers, and neodymium research, representing 2.4% of all tracked neodymium papers. Silicon contributes the highest absolute number of papers within this group, with 1,961 entries.
The community comprises 22,494 papers, publishing most frequently in Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, Applied Surface Science, and the Journal of Applied Physics.
Recent work focuses on multimodal learning systems that combine LIBS with acoustic signals for explainable identification, as well as the use of ultrafast lasers for micro-welding brittle optical materials and direct writing on sapphire windows.