Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission

A powerful analytical technique, usually shortened to ICP-AES or ICP-OES, that detects trace elements by the light atoms emit when excited. The sample, typically digested food or water, is nebulized into a stream of argon gas and passed through an intensely hot plasma reaching several thousand degrees, where atoms absorb energy and then release it as characteristic wavelengths. Because each element emits its own spectral fingerprint, the instrument can quantify dozens of elements, from nutritional minerals like iron, zinc, and calcium to toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and arsenic, in a single rapid run. Food safety laboratories rely on it for contaminant screening, authenticity testing, and verifying mineral label claims, routinely reaching detection limits in the parts-per-billion range.