A method that can reutilize the energy of a nanosecond pulse laser beam and its performance in single particle triggered laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) were studied. The propagation direction of the laser beam (Nd-YAG laser, 1064 nm, 9 ns and 0-80 mJ) was changed in an appropriate way and the energy overlapped at one point in space. In this setup, the energy used to break down pure air was reduced by 25% and the emission intensity of air plasma improved by 220% under the same pulse energy. Besides, the plasma temperature estimated by the relative line-to-continuum intensity ratio was improved by almost 900 K at 20 mJ. Furthermore, this method was applied in single particle triggered LIBS. NaCl particles with a diameter of ∼10 μm were used as the target sample and the scattered light of an 808 nm continuous laser beam was employed as a trigger signal to trigger the Nd-YAG laser. The emission line intensity of Na element was enhanced by 200%. This method can not only improve the emission intensity of a gas sample but can also be applied to single particle samples and has great significance in the application of ns-LIBS and the research and development of portable LIBS equipment.
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