Special Issue "Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy for Biological Samples"

Dear Colleagues,

The purpose of this Special Issue is to show the advances in the application of laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to biological samples.

By this technique, a pulsed laser is focused onto a surface, causing the vaporization and ablation of the surface material. As a consequence, a very bright plasma rises whose light is studied. From the observation of the spectrum, the content of the sample is obtained with high resolution (better than ppm).

Therefore, it provides a technique for multielemental detection with no sample preparation and real-time measurement. Recent technological advances have allowed for the application and improvement of this technique to biological samples (nanoparticle-enhanced spectroscopy or femtosecond spectroscopy, to name but two examples). Consequently, pioneering works are offering a new strategy for the study and diagnosis of various diseases (including tumours), paving the way for the implementation of LIBS imaging in clinical diagnosis laboratories.

I therefore consider this Special Issue to be timely because it has the potential to provide a compilation of the recent results accomplished in the field of biological applications by the LIBS technique. Additionally, it may include fundamental studies and general plasma diagnostics.

The issue is envisioned as a very general format, including reviews, short letters or original articles. Moreover, theoretical or applied, pioneering or reviewed research is invited.

Dr. Javier Manrique
Dr. Pablo Olleros-Rodríguez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atoms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy
• determination of plasma parameters
• laser ablation
• laser biological applications