SciAps handhelds for cultural heritage research

Quantum RX, a SciAps distributor in France, recently assisted researchers with the handheld LIBS analysis featured in the latest issue of Contrôles Essais Mesures. This is just one in a series of emerging cultural heritage applications made possible by SciAps handheld LIBS.

Pictured here: Under the guidance of France's national Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques, SciAps handheld LIBS analyzer is used for non-destructive testing on an icon of the State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg.

"If we consider the experience of the Quantum-RX teams and add to it the permanent spirit of innovation of SciAps, it is obvious that the history of field analysis is not written, and that many innovations are coming. Our ambition is always to meet analytical needs that until now were impossible. SciAps offers us the possibility of pushing the limits." ~ Quantum RX "Transportable and portable solutions are more and more favored." ~ Contrôles Essais Mesures[

One LIBS analyzer, every element

The Z-903 accomplishes what no other portable analyzer has done. It’s a handheld analyzer that measures every element in the periodic table of the elements – from H to U. SciAps has brought LIBS from an obscure laboratory tool to a mainstream field technique for every major industry: supply chain authentication, alloy analysis, oil/gas, agriculture, environmental clean-up, and the green economy, where it's the world's only handheld capable of measuring lithium in hard rocks and brines.

SciAps LIBS: New tool, new opportunities

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In 2021, Dr. Russell Harmon participated in an on-site analysis assisting the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Geochemical fingerprinting of the museum's garnet collections using SciAps LIBS revealed that 30 percent of the stones were misclassified. Historically, museum collections have relied on paper trails for classification. LIBS provides a new approach to authentication.

In 2015, Dr. Richard Hark worked with first-generation SciAps LIBS to analyze 12th-century Northern Song dynasty artifacts. A synthetic organic chemist by training who now works as a conservation scientist, Hark continues to use LIBS in his work at Yale University Institute for Cultural Heritage, in addition to his research expanding applications for forensics, soils, and more.

SciAps LIBS continues to aid the work of scientists, like Harmon and Hark, in the cultural heritage field and an array of diverse applications activating new business with handheld LIBS. We are excited to see what comes next.

Read more about the emergence of handheld LIBS

SciAps created the world’s first handheld LIBS primarily to help the metals analysis industries more profitably verify carbon and carbon equivalents at rugged or remote job sites. But it didn’t take long for researchers around the world to begin exploring an array of diverse applications—many of which are mentioned on the SciAps website—opening the door to a universe of new business opportunities rooted in elemental analysis. SciAps, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of handheld XRF and LIBS analyzers, able to measure virtually every element, in almost any material. These breakthrough instruments have been expanding applications for portable, in-field measurements of elements, minerals and compounds in every major industry around the world. Sign up for our e-mail list to be the first to hear about this expanding world of handheld analysis.

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Need an academic loaner? We frequently loan handheld analyzers for a few weeks or a month to academic researchers from the U.S. and Canada, so that they can perform a study or field analysis anywhere in the world. LIBS is often a preferred technique, especially for students, since operators do not have to deal with the regulatory complexities of X-ray fluorescence analyzers. And our accompanying Profile Builder software provides operators complete freedom to modify parameters. You’re not limited to factory-imposed calibrations or unchangeable multi-variant techniques. Contact us with a brief description of what you want to measure.