Spark stand for optical emission spectrometry with improved dust removal

A spark stand 201 for an optical emission spectrometer, comprising a spark chamber 210 and at least one auxiliary gas conduit 209a, 209b that provides an auxiliary gas flow into the chamber, wherein the auxiliary gas conduit is configured to provide the auxiliary gas flow for a period after spark operation but not during spark operation. The spark stand may comprise a first gas conduit 202 that provides a first gas flow into the spark chamber during spark operation and a second gas conduit 208 that carries gas from the spark chamber. The auxiliary gas conduit may be configured to provide the auxiliary gas flow in a crossed flow configuration with the first gas flow, where the crossed flow may enable the generation of gas turbulences in the chamber. The auxiliary gas flow acts to clear ablated materials that are produced by the sparking process that may interfere with future measurements. The auxiliary gas flow into the spark chamber improves flushing of dust from the spark chamber after spark operation.