A Critical Review of Laser Photofragmentation/Fragment Detection Techniques for Gas-Phase Chemical Analysis

ABSTRACT

A comprehensive review of Laser Photofragmentation/Fragment Detection techniques for spectrochemical analysis is presented. The techniques involve one and/or multiple lasers for both photolysis of the analyte and detection of the characteristic daughter photofragments. Fragment detection is accomplished by laser-induced fluorescence, photoionization, prompt emission, stimulated emission, and/or laser ionization recombination emission techniques. Recent applications of these techniques for chemical analysis include the detection of analytes by their characteristic atomic and molecular fragments. Various techniques are compared and contrasted, and future applications in analytical chemistry are discussed. A key to the main acronyms and abbreviations used in the text is provided in a glossary at the end of this review.