Spectral Characterization of Nitrogen in Farmland Soil by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Nitrogen is one of the most important elements in farmland soil, and nitrogen content is one of the evaluation indicators of fertilizers. It is difficult to measure the nitrogen content in farmland soil because the chemical and physical properties of farmland soil are complex. Through the adoption of buffer gases to remove the influence of the nitrogen in air, this paper studied the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) characteristics of nitrogen in soil to establish a foundation for in situ measurement of nitrogen in farmland soil. Three characteristic spectral lines have been found. Based on the precise controlling of laser power and triggering of delay time between laser generation and spectra collection, we have studied the effects of laser energy on LIBS spectral characteristics and the time evolution characteristics to supply the basis of parameter optimization for the measurement. In addition, we have studied the relationship between nitrogen concentration and LIBS spectral intensity. The results demonstrated that LIBS was an effective measurement method of nitrogen content in farmland soil with simple hardware structure, fast detection, and high precision.