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movement the coil is placed in the second heater zone, the burner flame, for absorption measurements.
The efficacy of the device was demonstrated in the analysis of proteins containing cadmium, copper
and zinc. It was claimed that the sensitivity was two orders of magnitude better than that obtained by
employing the conventional nebulizer. However, this would depend somewhat on the design of
nebulizer that was taken as the reference interface.

Laser Enhanced Ionization for Measuring Organotin Compounds in Liquid Chromatography
Column Eluents

The increasing demands of environmental control have challenged many analytical techniques, and
there is a continual search for instruments and devices that will provide higher sensitivity and better
resolution. One method for improving sensitivity would be to employ a flame as an atom reservoir, and
ionize the atoms by high-energy laser light. As only specific ions of the selected element would be
produced, the ionic current would be directly related to the amount of that element present. This
procedure has been successfully employed by a number of workers, [1215]. Epler et al. [16] used a
laser excitation technique to detect tin compounds and the general layout of their apparatus is depicted
in Figure 10.6.

Figure 10.6
Diagram of a Laser Enhanced Ionization Apparatus