Abstract

A flameless atomic absorption technique, employing a tantalum strip atomizer, has been developed to determine barium and antimony in gunshot residue. Cotton swabs, wetted with 5% HNO₃, are used to collect residue. Barium and antimony are released from the swabs by acid leaching or plasma ashing. Both techniques give good recoveries; the ashing technique is preferred for blood-stained swabs. The sensitivity for barium is 0.1 ng/10 μl and antimony 0.2 ng/10 μl. At nanogram levels the standard relative deviation for barium is 8.3% and for antimony 8.5%.

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for the detection of gunshot residues on the hands of a shooter

Christopher R. Dockery and Scott R. Goode
Appl. Opt. 42(30) 6153-6158 (2003)

Quantitative determination of tantalum and niobium in tantalum–niobium ore using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Li Liu and Zhongqi Hao
Appl. Opt. 58(2) 461-465 (2019)

Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy with High Temperature Flames

J. B. Willis
Appl. Opt. 7(7) 1295-1304 (1968)

Double-Rydberg spectroscopy of the barium atom

J. Boulmer, P. Camus, and P. Pillet
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 4(5) 805-810 (1987)

Determination of antimony in soil using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy assisted with laser-induced fluorescence

Peiyuan Gao, Ping Yang, Ran Zhou, Shixiang Ma, Wen Zhang, Zhongqi Hao, Shisong Tang, Xiangyou Li, and Xiaoyan Zeng
Appl. Opt. 57(30) 8942-8946 (2018)