Feasibility of Rapid Classification of Edible Salts by a Compact Low‐Cost Laser‐induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Device

Weinvestigated feasibility of a compact, low-cost, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) device made up of a Q-switched, diode-pumped, solid-state laser and a nongateable miniature spectrometer for the classification of edible salts. LIBS spectra of edible salts from 12 different geographic origins were obtained by this compact LIBS device. The detection limits of the compact LIBS device for potassium, magnesium, and calcium with effective discrimination power were sufficient to classify the edible salts. The classification model was developed by the multivariate analysis of the LIBS spectra. The comparison of the LIBS results with inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy analysis indicates that the clustering of principal component scores was well dominated by chemical compositions of the salts. The cross-and external validations of the classification model showed reasonable performance (98.3 and 87.5% correctness, respectively). Our results indicate that rapid classification of edible salts can be realized by a compact, low-cost LIBS device.