Analysis of the element content in poplar tree leaves by femtosecond laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Femtosecond laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy （fs-LIBS） is employed to analyze the element content in poplar tree leaves from four representative locations in Changchun City （Jingyue National Forest Park, JYP）, Changchun University of Science and Technology （CUST）, Casting Factory （CF） and Forging Factory （FF） of First Automobile Works （FAW） under identical experimental conditions. Those elements of N, P, K, Ca, Fe, Ti, Mn and Na are identified in the poplar tree leaves from the recorded spectrogram and the elemental content in the leaves is further obtained by applying free calibration method to the spectrogram. Our results show that the elements Ca and Fe in the poplar tree leaves from the CF area have the highest concentration in the four locations, which is a factor of 2.05 and 1.66 respectively to those of JYP. This experiment demonstrates that fs-LIBS can be utilized to analyze element content in a sample and find new applications in the environmental detection.