Use of a SIT Image Detector for Atomic Emission/Fluorescence Spectrometry

Abstract

A silicon-intensified target vidicon tube (SIT) is evaluated for analytical use in the determination of 17 elements in an Ar-separated C 2 H 2 /air flame and 5 elements in an Ar-separated C 2 H 2 /N 2 O flame using combined atomic emission and atomic fluorescence as excited by a 150 W CW EIMAC xenon arc lamp. Benefits of combining emission and fluorescence signals in multielement analysis are experimentally shown. Limits of detection are approximately 100 times worse than previously reported by atomic fluorescence alone using a conventional spectrophotometer with the same 150 W EIMAC lamp. Linear dynamic ranges are between ∼10 and ∼100 for elements analyzed in the C 2 H 2 /air flame and are as high as 1000 for elements in the C 2 H 2 /N 2 O flame. Little or no use of the SIT and many similar image detectors for multielement analysis via atomic emission and/or atomic fluorescence is predicted at the present “state of the art.”