Brief, 5 ns pulses from a 30 mJ Nd:KGW laser at 1067 nm create light-emitting plasmas from the materials ablated from the sample. The emission spectra consist of spectrally narrow atomic and first- ionized emission lines from the elements contained in the sample. ChemCam’s spectral range covers 240- 860 nm in 3 spectrometers with resolutions between 0.15 and 0.65 nm FWHM. LIBS detects nearly all elements, including H, C, N, O, with most elements displaying multiple emission lines. Sensitivity to alkali elements is very high, with detection limits close to 10 ppm for Li. LIBS yields major element compositions at ±10% relative accuracy and precision.
