This atlas is the only compilation of spectral data which provides the analyst with a general view of the elemental spectra emitted by the ICP. Coincidence profiles enable the analyst to assess the relative liabilities of prominent analytical lines to a variety of spectral interference types. The data presented are all based on actual spectra emitted by ICPs operated under the optimized conditions usually employed for sample analysis.

The work is composed of three main sections, the first being concerned with the historical aspects of compilations of spectral information. The second part is based on 232 wavelength scans of 70 elements. Each of the wavelength scans covers an 80 nm spectral region. These scans allow a rapid comparison of the background and spectral line intensities emitted in the ICP and provide a ready means for identifying the most prominent lines of each element and for estimating the trace element analytical capabilities of these lines. A listing of 973 prominent lines with associated detection limits is also given. The third part addresses the problem of spectral interferences and contains a detailed collection of coincidence profiles for 281 of the most prominent lines, each with profiles of 10 of the most prevalent comcomitants superposed. These profiles illustrate normal line overlap interferences as well as clarify interferences arising from recombination continua, line broadening, background features (argon and hydrogen lines and molecular bands), and of special significance, interferences arising from numerous lines not listed in the major wavelength tables. The 10 elements chosen as interferents cover a large number of the interferences that will be encountered in the analysis of samples of biological, environmental, and geological origin.