Micro & Confocal XRF​

The use of x-ray optic devices allows focusing x-ray beams to a volume with different size, depending on the used optics. Poly-capillary lenses are one of the more used devices due to their relatively affordable costs. By translating the sample in two directions, 2-dimensional maps depicting the spatial distribution of the elements can be made. If an additional focusing element is placed in front of the detector, a confocal effective volume is probed, thus allowing to render 3D distribution of elements.

The instrument assembled at NSIL uses two detectors, arranged according to the schematics below:

Its main features can be summarized as follows:

Publications of interest:

·         Micro-beam X-ray fluorescence and absorption imaging techniques at the IAEA Laboratories, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. B 231 (2005) 176 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2005.01.053 

·         Experimental evaluation of X-ray optics applied for microanalysis, X-Ray Spectrom. 2008; 37: 635, https://doi.org/10.1002/xrs.1113

·         The mystery of mercury-layers on ancient coins – a multianalytical study on the Sasanian coins under the reign of Khusro II", Microchemical Journal 125 (2016) 159-169, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.microc.2015.10.024

·         Experimental assessment of effectively probed volume in confocal XRF spectrometry using micro-particles, Volume48, Issue5, 2019, Pages 553-560, https://doi.org/10.1002/xrs.3045