Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) In-Situ: From Portable to Handheld Instrumentation

Over the last years, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has gained a very important role as a tool for in-situ cultural heritage investigations owing to its high sensibility to light elements such as H, Li, B, C, N, and O, ease of use, no need of sample pretreatment, robustness and versatility, noninvasiveness, micro- destructivity, and availability of compact transportable setups. More recently, mobile LIBS instrumentations have been developed and improved which allow the performance of trustable, contactless, fast, sensitive, multielemental analysis with a minimum impact on the art objects. In this chapter, a review is provided of the results obtained in-situ, outdoor and indoor in laboratories or museums, specifically by the use of mobile, i.e., "portable," "transportable," and handheld, LIBS instruments. In particular, LIBS applications to the analysis of monument stones, pigments, mural paintings, metal objects, coins, pottery, and jewelry are reviewed. Finally, new trends and future perspectives of LIBS as an efficient analytical tool to be extended to the analysis of even submerged materials are highlighted.