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Self‐element secondary fluorescence enhancement in XRF analysis
Author(s) -
Karydas A. G.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
x‐ray spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.447
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1097-4539
pISSN - 0049-8246
DOI - 10.1002/xrs.848
Subject(s) - monochromatic color , fluorescence , x ray fluorescence , intensity (physics) , analytical chemistry (journal) , optics , line (geometry) , atomic physics , chemistry , materials science , physics , geometry , mathematics , chromatography
In XRF analysis, the need for improved quantification approaches for non‐homogeneous samples requires a better understanding of all the energy‐dispersive spectrum features, in particular, the K/L or L/M intensity ratios among the characteristic x‐rays of the same element. These ratios are affected by the secondary fluorescence contribution of the more energetic characteristic x‐rays (K‐ or L‐lines) to the corresponding one of lower energy (L‐ or M‐lines, respectively). Theoretical calculations of the secondary fluorescence contribution among the characteristic x‐ray lines of the same element (self‐element secondary fluorescence enhancement) are presented for pure element targets by means of the fundamental parameter approach. For representative cases, the calculations were also performed for different exciting monochromatic x‐ray beam energies and as a function of the target thickness. The calculations predict that for pure targets and monochromatic exciting radiation, the self‐element secondary fluorescence enhancement contributes to the primary fluorescence intensity in a non‐negligible amount, up to about 20–25%. An experimental approach is proposed for the estimation in thick pure targets of the relative increase of the M α, β fluorescence intensity due to the L‐line self‐element secondary fluorescence enhancement. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.