Field-portable and handheld LIBS

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has followed a typical arc of technology development. Beginning in the laboratory setting, curiosity-driven researchers first pursued answers to questions about the fundamental physics of the methodology and then developed ever-better laboratory analytical systems. This, in turn, opened the door for investigations of practical applications in the laboratory that, when demonstrated, subsequently resulted in the development of portable and mobile LIBS systems for in-field LIBS analysis. Concurrently, LIBS technology moved from the research laboratory into the marketplace, first with the commercialization of the technology based on laboratory LIBS systems and, more recently, to the development of handheld LIBS analyzers. This chapter reviews this technology development and discusses different applications of handheld LIBS during the early years after its development.