Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) - The process, applications to artwork and environment

In this chapter the laser ablation process which is involved in the laser induced breakdown occurrence, with plasma formation and relaxation is shortly described. The fundamentals of laser induced breakdown technique are revised, presenting current laboratory instrumentation, and methods for qualitative, semi-quantitative, and quantitative analyses in air and low pressure gasses and underwater recognition and analysis of different materials. Examples of applications of LIBS technique to artwork characterization and environmental analyses are reviewed and discussed, with special emphasis to fragile substrates, ceramics and marbles in the first case, to rocks relevant to planetary exploration and to underwater measurements of environmental interest in the second.