What happens when you put two fantastic scientific minds together? Fantastic scientific breakthroughs! Dr Kim Marshall from LECO and Dr Arne Bengtson from Swerim, in Sweden, sat down with Andrew Storey, LECO Field Sales Specialist for Materials Analysis and Measured Science podcast host, to talk about their collaborative work with atomic spectroscopy and where this technology is going.
Dr Bengtson grew up in Sundsvall, a small town on the Swedish Baltic coast. Time spent as a foreign exchange student in high school here in Michigan helped him cement his English skills. He earned his a Ph.D. in atomic physics with a focus on laser spectroscopy and ion beams. Prior to working with LECO, Dr Bengston was put to work studying quantification of CDP profiles, and he eventually discovered the relationship between sputter rate and recorded intensity, which was the key to quantifying depth profiles for the first time ever.
Dr Marshall started at LECO in 1990 and met Dr Bengston that very same year. Prior to LECO, he got his start in atomic spectroscopy early, focusing on ICP spectroscopy through graduate school. After joining LECO and meeting with Dr Bengston, the two began collaborating on LECO’s atomic spectroscopy instrumentation, creating the GDS-series of instruments (glow discharge spectrometers) and creating ways to make measurements that other experts thought were impossible.
Listen to Dr Marshall and Dr Bengston talk about their experiences and breakthroughs in the latest episode of the Measured Science podcast. If you’re interested in more about glow discharge spectroscopy, consider attending the 5th International Glow Discharge Spectroscopy Symposium, which will be held in April 2022. More information on the IGDSS is available here.
