GGR Handbook of Rock and Mineral Analysis Chapter 5 The Inductively Coupled Plasma

This chapter (The Inductively Coupled Plasma) is a contribution to the Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research Handbook of Rock and Mineral Analysis – an online textbook that is a fully revised and updated edition of A Handbook of Silicate Rock Analysis (P. J. Potts, 1987, Blackie, Glasgow).

Chapter 5 (from Section 1 of the handbook dealing with fundamentals of measurement and instrument design) is a comprehensive treatment of the inductively coupled plasma – a significant cornerstone of modern geoanalytical spectrometry. The Chapter includes discussion of plasma formation and key components of the ICP source. This is followed by an examination of the challenges of sample introduction into the plasma, particularly focussed on the introduction of liquid samples. The physical structure of the plasma, its robustness and interference effects are fully examined prior to a section dealing with how the operation of plasma is optimised in practise.