This unique piece of equipment weighing 180 kilogrammes, which allows the analysis of a sample with the help of a laser pulse at a distance of up to twenty metres, has been worked on by Professor Jozef Kaiser’s group already for several years. However scientists from CEITEC BUT presented it for the first time this year to their peers under the working name rLIBS at the International Engineering Fair. The mobile laboratory can be taken to the sample and its main advantages include the speed of analysis, the possibility of analysing samples from all groups and of all sizes without special preparation and the ability to determine the majority of elements from the periodic table. The basis of the modern analytical method LIBS (Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) is a targeted laser beam, with which the machine first vaporises a tiny bit of the material (of the order of micrograms) creating a microplasma, before identifying individual chemical elements present.
The potential range of uses for the mobile laboratory is broad: monitoring product quality on production and sorting lines; detecting impurities in water, air, soil and plants; analysis of minerals, building materials, gases, archaeological finds, etc. “Thanks to the LIBS device determining the state of a bridge from the ground would not be anything exceptional,” noted Radimír Vrba, CEITEC BUT director.
The rLIBS is the result of close cooperation between teams from Brno University of Technology, Masaryk University and the company TESCAN. “One of our aims is to put the latest scientific research findings into practise. The remote laboratory, as we call it, is an ideal example of our close cooperation with industry, and we are looking for a way to make use of it in the market,” added CEITEC BUT director Radimír Vrba.
