Method and Apparatus for Measuring Amount of Material Removed from Target in Pulsed Laser Ablation
The technology aims at authenticating artwork, such as a painting by analyzing the elemental composition of the pigments. Lasers are used to analyze the pigments on the substrate via the vaporization of a small amount of the pigment (i.e. nano grams) by a laser pulse. The dense and exploding vapor is subsequently made to glow by the second ultra-violet laser pulse. The constituent elements emit their various signature colors against a dim background to reveal the pigment composition. This is a breakthrough when comparing with conventional laser heating and laser photoexcitation probes. Laser heating gets all the elements to glow but the background glare is intense and the painting is visibly damaged. Laser photoexcitation produces little glare but only one selected element can light up. This technology possesses both merits : multi-specie fluorescence and minimal background interference. This leads to unambiguous signal despite miniscule sample. The uniqueness of the technology is invisible damage even under the microscope.
- non-destructive testing
- fast and high sensitive technology
28 Jul 2011 (US)
B23K
This technology can be applied on artwork analysis for conservation and authentication purpose
Patent granted
香港
