The investigation of atomic magneto-optical rotation effect within an inductively-coupled plasma

The inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) has been demonstrated to be an efficient source of atoms and ions. This high temperature environment of atoms results in complex emission spectra which are typically observed by optical emission techniques. The spectral interferences resulting from these complex emission spectra may be eliminated or minimized by utilizing an alternate optical interaction for the detection of species within the ICP. The use of the atomic magneto-optical rotation effect (AMORE) provides a method for such a simplification of the analytically useful spectrum. The instrument for AMORE detection of analyte utilizing an ICP is being designed and constructed within the authors laboratory. Earlier designs of the system resulted in undesirably high background emission levels. Several approaches to the minimization of analyte and plasma background emission have been investigated. Among these approaches have been the use of high fidelity optical spatial filtering, the use of phase sensitive detection electronics, and modulation of the amplitude of the applied rf field with time- gated detection. The respective merits of each of these approaches is discussed and the experimental configuration of each is described