Abstract
It was a very sad day when the unbelievable news reached us that Prof. Edward Steers of London Metropolitan University had passed away. He was a major figure in Glow Discharge Spectroscopy (GDS). This text is intended as a brief overview of Edward’s career in science, his activities in organizing meetings and research networks focused on GDS and the many-sided promotion of the field, including lecturing, his work with graduate students and post-docs, and the various research projects on which he collaborated with many colleagues throughout Europe. He was widely respected and admired for his keen scientific insight and encyclopedic knowledge and he was universally loved as a genuine and wonderful person.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bengtson A, Hänström S (1999) In: Tomellini R (ed) Proceedings of fifth international conference on progress in analytical chemistry in the steel and metals industries, European Communities, Luxembourg, 1999, pp 47–54
Bovey L, Steers EBM (1960) The optical spectra of plutonium in the 1–2.5 μ region. Spectrochim Acta 16:1184–1199. https://doi.org/10.1016/0371-1951(60)80224-X
Bovey L, Steers EBM, Wise HS (1956) The infrared resonance lines of lutetium. Proc Phys Soc (Lond) A69:783
Bovey L, Atherton N, Steers EBM (1961) The optical spectrum of uranium in the 1–2.5 μ region. Spectrochim Acta 17:259–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/0371-1951(61)80072-6
Ferreira NP, Strauss JA, Human HGC (1984) Distribution of metastable argon atoms in the modified Grimm-type electrical discharge. Spectrochim Acta Part B 37:273–279
Gamez G (2011) Weaving the glow discharge net. J Anal At Spectrom 26:649–652. https://doi.org/10.1039/C1JA90005F
Grimm W (1968) Eine neue glimmentladungslampe für die optische emissionsspektralanalyse. Spectrochim Acta Part B 7:443–454. https://doi.org/10.1016/0584-8547(68)80023-0
Hodoroaba V-D, Hoffmann V, Steers EBM, Wetzig K (2000a) Emission spectra of copper and argon in an argon glow discharge containing small quantities of hydrogen. J Anal At Spectrom 15:951–958. https://doi.org/10.1039/B001565M
Hodoroaba V-D, Hoffmann V, Steers EBM, Wetzig K (2000b) Investigations of the effect of hydrogen in an argon glow discharge. J Anal At Spectrom 15:1075–1080. https://doi.org/10.1039/B002367L
Hodoroaba V-D, Hoffmann V, Steers EBM, Wetzig K (2001) The effect of small quantities of hydrogen on a glow discharge in neon. Comparison with the argon case. J Anal At Spectrom 16:43–49. https://doi.org/10.1039/b007527m
Hodoroaba V-D, Steers EBM, Hoffmann V, Unger WES, Paatsch W, Wetzig K (2003) Influence of hydrogen on the analytical figures of merit of glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy—friend or foe? J Anal At Spectrom 18:521–526. https://doi.org/10.1039/B301326J
Hoffmann V, Efimova V, Voronov MV, Šmíd P, Steers EBM, Eckert J (2008) Measurement of voltage and current in continuous and pulsed rf and dc glow discharges. J Phys Conf Ser 133(012017):1–12. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/133/1/012017
Howard C, Pillow ME, Steers EBM, Ward DW (1983) Intensities of some spectral lines from hollow cathode lamps. Analyst 108:145–152. https://doi.org/10.1039/AN9830800145
Leis F, Steers EBM (1994) Boosted glow discharges for atomic spectroscopy—analytical and fundamental properties. Spectrochim Acta 49B:289–335. https://doi.org/10.1016/0584-8547(94)80025-1
Leis F, Steers EBM (1996) Some properties of a microwave boosted glow discharge source using neon as the operating gas. Fresenius J Anal Chem 355:873–875. https://doi.org/10.1007/s0021663550873
Leis F, Broekaert JAC, Laqua K (1987) Design and properties of a microwave boosted glow discharge lamp. Spectrochim Acta Part B 42:1169–1176. https://doi.org/10.1016/0584-8547(87)80166-0
Leis F, Broekaert JAC, Steers EBM (1991) OES measurements on aluminium, copper and lead samples with a microwave boosted GD lamp. Spectrochim Acta 46B:243–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/0584-8547(91)80026-Y
Light CE, Steers EBM (1985) Observations on metastable neon atoms in hollow-cathode discharges. Analyst 110:439–441. https://doi.org/10.1039/an9851000439
Mushtaq S, Pickering JC, Steers EBM, Michler M (2011) The role of oxygen in analytical glow discharges: gD-OES and GD-ToF-MS studies. J Anal At Spectrom 26:1746–1755. https://doi.org/10.1039/C1JA10087D
Mushtaq S, Steers EBM, Pickering JC, Weinstein V (2012a) Asymmetric charge transfer involving the ions of added gases (oxygen or hydrogen) in Grimm-type glow discharges in argon or neon. J Anal At Spectrom 27:1264–1273. https://doi.org/10.1039/C2JA30052D
Mushtaq S, Hoffmann V, Steers EBM, Pickering JC (2012b) Comparison of a sample containing oxide with a pure sample with argon–oxygen mixtures. J Anal At Spectrom 27:1423–1431. https://doi.org/10.1039/C2JA10359A
Mushtaq S, Steers EBM, Pickering JC, Putyera K (2014a) Selective and non-selective excitation/ionization processes in analytical glow discharges: excitation of the ionic spectra in argon/helium mixed plasmas. J Anal At Spectrom 29:68–695
Mushtaq S, Steers EBM, Pickering JC, Smid P (2014b) Enhancement of analyte atomic lines with excitation energies of about 5 eV in the presence of molecular gases in analytical glow discharges. J Anal At Spectrom 29:2022–2026. https://doi.org/10.1039/c4ja00193a
Mushtaq S, Steers EBM, Hoffmann V, Weiss Z, Pickering JC (2016) Evidence for charge transfer from hydrogen molecular ions to copper atoms in a neon–hydrogen analytical glow discharge. J Anal At Spectrom 31:2175–2181. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6JA00231E
Mushtaq S, Steers EBM, DeAnn Barnhart G, Kasik M, Churchill G, Richter S, Pfeifer J, Putyera K (2017) The production of doubly charged sample ions by “charge transfer and ionization” (CTI) in analytical GD-MS. J Anal At Spectrom 32:1721–1729. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6JA00415F
Outred M, Rümmeli MH, Steers EBM (1994) Microwave boosted glow discharge source using a slab-line cavity. J Anal At Spectrom 9:381–384. https://doi.org/10.1039/JA9940900381
Pickering JC, Mushtaq S, Steers EBM, Weiss Z (2015) High resolution FTS studies of the effects of trace molecular gases on Glow discharge spectra and industrial applications. Fourier Transform Spectrosc. https://doi.org/10.1364/fts.2015.jm3a.1
Rümmeli MH, Outred M, Spillane DEM, Steers EBM (1996) Microwave sputtering of conductors and insulators for optical emission and mass spectrometry. Fresenius J Anal Chem 355:820–825. https://doi.org/10.1007/s0021663550820
Smid P, Steers EBM, Weiss Z, Vlcek J (2003) The effect of nitrogen on analytical glow discharges studied by high resolution Fourier transform spectroscopy. J Anal At Spectrom 18:549–556. https://doi.org/10.1039/B300622K
Smid P, Steers E, Weiss Z, Pickering J, Hoffmann V (2008a) The effect of hydrogen and nitrogen on emission spectra of iron and titanium atomic lines in analytical glow discharges. J Anal At Spectrom 23:1223–1233. https://doi.org/10.1039/B803812K
Smid P, Steers E, Hoffmann V (2008b) The effect of hydrogen on the spatial intensity distribution of iron lines in analytical glow discharges. Publ Obs Astron Belgrade 84:325–329
Steers EBM (1967) The emission spectrum of thorium in the 1–2.5 μ region. Spectrochim Acta Part B 23:135–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/0584-8547(67)80012-0
Steers EBM (1993) Kathodenmaterialeffekte bei Anregungsprozessen in glimmentladungen: In: Proceedings of Canas 93, University of Leipzig, ISSN 0945-2524, pp 1013–1022
Steers EBM (1997) Charge transfer excitation in glow discharge sources: the spectra of titanium and copper with neon, argon and krypton as the carrier gas. J Anal At Spectrom 12:1033–1040. https://doi.org/10.1039/A701958K
Steers E (2003) EC thematic network on glow discharge spectroscopy for spectrochemical analysis 1999–2002. J Anal At Spectrom 18:24N–26N. https://doi.org/10.1039/B304299P
Steers EBM, Fielding RJ (1987) Charge transfer excitation processes in the Grimm lamp. J Anal At Spectrom 2:239–244. https://doi.org/10.1039/JA9870200239
Steers EBM, Leis F (1989a) Observations on the use of the microwave boosted glow discharge lamp and the relevant excitation processes. J Anal At Spectrom 4:199–204. https://doi.org/10.1039/ja9890400199
Steers EBM, Leis F (1989b) Erfahrungen mit einer Glimmentladungslampe mit zusätzlicher Mikrowellenanregung und Untersuchung des Anregungsprozesses, PTB Bericht W-41. ISSN 0341–6739:77–85
Steers EBM, Leis F (1991) Excitation of spectra of neutral and singly ionized atoms in the Grimm type discharge lamp, with and without supplementary microwave excitation. Spectrochim Acta Part B 46:527–537. https://doi.org/10.1016/0584-8547(91)80057-A
Steers EBM, Leis F (1997) Modulated glow discharge source with supplementary microwave excitation. J Anal At Spectrom 12:307–312. https://doi.org/10.1039/a606773e
Steers EBM, Thorne AP (1989) Fourier-transform-spektrometrie mit einer glimmentladungs-lampe für die elementanalytik, PTB Bericht W-41, ISSN 0341-6739, pp 86–94
Steers EBM, Thorne AP (1993) Application of high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometry to the study of glow discharge sources. Part 1 excitation of iron and chromium spectra in a microwave boosted glow discharge source. J Anal At Spectrom 8:309–315. https://doi.org/10.1039/ja9930800309
Steers EBM, Thorne AP (1996) High resolution FTS studies of glow discharge spectra—line profiles and line widths. Fresenius J Anal Chem 355:868–872. https://doi.org/10.1007/s0021663550868
Steers EBM, Smid P, Weiss Z (2006) Asymmetric charge transfer with hydrogen ions—an important factor in the ‘‘hydrogen effect’’ in glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy. Spectrochim Acta Part B 61:414–420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sab.2005.12.002
Steers EBM, Šmíd P, Hoffmann V, Weiss Z (2008) The effects of traces of molecular gases (H2, N2 and O2) in glow discharges in noble gases. J Phys Conf Ser 133(012020):1–10. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/133/1/012020
Thorne AP, Harris CJ, Wynne-Jones I, Learner RCM, Cox GJ (1987) A Fourier transform spectrometer for the vacuum ultraviolet: design and performance. J Phys E Sci Instrum 20:54–60. https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3735/20/1/010
Weinstein V, Steers EBM, Smid P, Pickering JC, Mushtaq S (2010) A detailed comparison of spectral line intensities with plane and hollow cathodes in a Grimm type glow discharge source. J Anal At Spectrom 25:1283–1289. https://doi.org/10.1039/c003457f
Weiss Z, Steers EBM, Smíd P, Hoffmann V (2009) Towards a catalogue of glow discharge emission spectra. J Anal At Spectrom 24:27–33. https://doi.org/10.1039/B811929E
Weiss Z, Steers EBM, Pickering JC, Mushtaq S (2014a) Transition rate diagrams—a new approach to the study of selective excitation processes: the spectrum of manganese in a Grimm-type glow discharge. Spectrochim Acta Part B 92:70–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sab.2013.12.006
Weiss Z, Steers EBM, Pickering JC, Mushtaq S (2014b) Excitation and transition rate diagrams of singly ionized iron in analytical glow discharges in argon, neon and argon hydrogen mixture. J Anal At Spectrom 29:2078–2090. https://doi.org/10.1039/c4ja00214h
Weiss Z, Steers EBM, Pickering JC, Hoffmann V, Mushtaq S (2014c) Excitation of higher levels of singly charged copper ions in argon and neon glow discharges. J Anal At Spectrom 29:2256–2261. https://doi.org/10.1039/c4ja00309h
Weiss Z, Steers EBM, Pickering JC (2015) Transition rates and transition rate diagrams in atomic emission spectroscopy: a review. Spectrochim Acta Part B 110:79–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sab.2015.05.013
Weiss Z, Steers EBM, Mushtaq S, Hoffmann V, Pickering JC (2016) The use of radiative transition rates to study the changes in the excitation of Cu ions in a Ne glow discharge caused by small additions of H2, O2 and N2. Spectrochim Acta Part B 118:81–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sab.2016.02.011
Weiss Z, Steers EBM, Pickering JC (2018) Transition rate diagrams and excitation of titanium in a glow discharge in argon and neon. Spectrochim Acta Part B 144:20–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sab.2018.03.003
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Weiss, Z., Pickering, J.C. & Hoffmann, V. Sixty years of spectroscopic research: a tribute to Professor Edward B. M. Steers. Chem. Pap. 73, 2891–2896 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-018-0635-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-018-0635-z