XRF Wiki
Welcome to the XRF Wiki. This Wiki is a repository of information contributed by members of [email protected]. Members can view and edit the pages. The pages are currently not viewable by the public. The pages below represent a rough overview of the technology and techniques associated with X-Ray Florescence Spectroscopy as well as serving as a place for members to organize the spectra that they have contributed to the forum.?
As a starting point, the pages will be populated by information taken from member posts from the past few years - with references/attribution. Perhaps in time, these pages can be edited by members to make them more complete and less choppy. Members can also edit this page, making the structure of the content more organized.?
Pages can contain information about a particular topic, links to relevant resources (such as manuals, research papers, etc.), links to relevant forum discussions on the topic, book titles, or anything that might be useful.
What follows is very much a work in progress.
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Adding to the Wiki
For those unfamiliar with the Wiki phenomenon, it is basically a user editable encyclopedia. The idea is that there are pages with different articles, which the user can read and also choose to edit if desired. If a piece of information is incorrect, a link outdated, or the presentation choppy or unclear, the user can just click "Edit Page" at the bottom and then fix the mistake. There is also a "Page History," so if you a user were to make a mistake or maliciously destroy a page (which wouldn't happen here) an editor can come along and restore the page to a previous version.?
If you have used MediaWiki (the engine that runs behind the scene of Wikipedia.org) you will be familiar with a certain style of creating an article. There are tags that one uses to change the formatting of the parts of the article. The Wiki on Groups.io uses a different background engine and so the standard MediaWiki syntax does not apply here. Rather, the page is edited using the same tools as one would use to compose a message on the forums. If you are a programmer or someone who likes using the tagged syntax directly, you can access the underlying page source code, be activating the advanced editing toolbar (the icon with three lines on the far right of the basic toolbar) and then clicking on the source code icon <> on the far right of the Advance Editing Toolbar. You will immediately notice that the underlying source code is HTML. Most things can be done just by using the various icons, but advanced features like table can only be implemented by manually writing the source code. (Although there are website available that will generate the source code for you through a graphical interface.)
Here are some useful resources from Groups.io:?
Wiki Guide for Users and Editors
Message Composition Tips and Tricks
Overview of XRF
X-Ray Florescence vs. X-Ray Diffraction
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Hardware
This section describes the hardware used for XRF. We will describe the basic theory of operation of each stage in the processing tool chain and then present different commercial systems that are available as these systems are often integrated together.
[Editor note: General theory needs to be in an independent page separate from specific manufacturer information.
[Editor note - question: Should this be arranged by category, e.g detectors, preamps, etc or by manufacturer with the manufacturers product line on one page. Perhaps it's best to put a list of products with theory but the details of the products on a manufacture page...]
Detectors?- what's available, theory of operation, tradeoffs
Detector Cooling?- keeping detectors cool to avoid thermal noise and keeping the TEC from overheating
Preamps?- theory of operation, brief summary of what out there (and what not to do - such as trying to use a PMT preamp for a SiPIN diode...)
Pulse Processing Theory - high level overview of the stages of going from detector pulse to channel peaks on the computer
Commercial Systems - many commercial systems are integrated so it seems to make sense to present, for example all Amptek products together. [question: are their other affordable integrated systems besides Amptek?]
Amptek XRF System
Activation Sources - what do you use to make the sample fluoresce (that's within the amateur budget and doesn't require special licensing)
Software
- Device Control Software - what do you use to collect the data from the detector system
- XRF Analysis Software - what do you use to analyze the data, especially for quantitative measurements (composition percentages, thin film measurement)
- Free Software Tools
Note: there may be software packages that possess some or all of these characteristics.
Materials Spectra
Metals Spectra
Historic/Archeological Spectra
Reference Materials Spectra
Household Objects Spectra
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Resources
Videos
Articles
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Non-XRF Techniques
Gamma Spectroscopy
Raman Spectroscopy
FTIR - Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy
Inductively Coupled Atomic Emission Spectroscopy
Spark Emission Spectroscopy
Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
LIBS - Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
Photoacoustic Spectroscopy
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Re: 59.5keV spectrum cleanup
You called it a source filter. It works by K-edge?
s From: "DFEMER" <dfemer@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2020 3:40:29 PM
Subject: Re: FW: [XRF] 59.5keV spectrum cleanup
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1533
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Re: 59.5keV spectrum cleanup
is the K-Edge filter stack you gave me Dud.
Al Ti Cu
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2020 3:40:29 PM
Subject: Re: FW: [XRF] 59.5keV spectrum cleanup
Geo,
We know you know
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1532
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Re: FW: [XRF] 59.5keV spectrum cleanup
Geo,
We know you know what you¡¯re doing but none of us know what you were doing. Please also be descriptive in what we¡¯re looking at. Pretty pictures don¡¯t do much without context. Write the
By
Dude
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#1531
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Re: FW: [XRF] 59.5keV spectrum cleanup
Not a bad trial for a quicky. The ratio of 59.5 to the lows really changed. Needs tweaking this end.
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1530
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Re: 59.5keV spectrum cleanup
Good info, I can try those K-edge filters, will report back.
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2020 2:00:57 PM
Subject: Re: FW: [XRF] 59.5keV spectrum cleanup
Geo,
These Am and
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1529
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Re: FW: [XRF] 59.5keV spectrum cleanup
Geo,
These Am and Np peaks are monochromatic having discrete energies not the broad bremsstrahlung you get from a X-ray tube. The tube¡¯s characteristic lines are also monochromatic.
The issue is
By
Dude
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#1528
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Re: Am-241 Calibration UPDATE.
On the loss of low end excitation, we may find the 13.95 17.75 etc. are really HELPING dig out the low energies, So any metal filter will be experimental and removable until we know for sure. Geo
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1527
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Re: Am-241 Calibration UPDATE.
Fine on the lighting setup. Lots of new lighting tech out there now. I have a dual fiberoptic illuminator for the microscope- need to press that into service for camera pictures too.
The President
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1526
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Re: Am-241 Calibration UPDATE.
Ok, so you are blocking the alphas coming from Am241 so they can't excite
the target, right? But doesn't that also block the lower energy xrays we
would like to detect coming from the target?
It is
By
Charles David Young
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#1525
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Re: Am-241 Calibration UPDATE.
See pic of normal interfering 2 keV peak (black outline) vs Red Filled=Alpha Blocked.
Is that a 2 or 3 light setup?
I see 2 sidelights but can tell if there is a toplight.
Geo
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1524
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Re: Am-241 Calibration UPDATE.
Charles,
If you use the Amptek DPPmca program to look at the data you¡¯ll see that the peak falls right on the Au Ma1 2.12 line. The problem here is using Theremino and its ridiculous calibration
By
Dude
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#1523
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Re: Am-241 Calibration UPDATE.
See attached. What are you trying to prove with the alpha block?
Yes, between lighting and a new camera I can now get decent photos of my
specimens.
Charles
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Charles David Young
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#1522
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Re: Am-241 Calibration UPDATE.
Here's the half way through scan. Check it out (very low end) if you have a minute Charles- .mcaq attached
and- HEY you built a light box for photography on Mindat (right?) Great looking non specular
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1521
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Re: Am-241 Calibration UPDATE.
"
Geo, have you done something specific to get such a distinct peak at 2keV?
Charles"
No, Usually it proves to be ionized air, due to the exciter. Notably Argon. Sometimes it's seems to be a
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1520
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Re: Am-241 Calibration UPDATE.
I think the lowest peak could be Au or Zr or both (see attachment). I have
never been able to reliably get peaks to calibrate at 2keV so this scan is
of some interest to me.
Geo, have you done
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Charles David Young
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#1519
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Am-241 Calibration UPDATE.
New scans showing the correct peaks. Discussion/corrections invited. Geo
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1518
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Re: FW: [XRF] 59.5keV spectrum cleanup
We're using the same chart, just drawn differently. Here's the NIST standard chart that I marked up. The filters you refer to a K-edge filters, what I'm doing is above the K-edge.
In radio-electronic
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1517
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Re: FW: [XRF] 59.5keV spectrum cleanup
" The x-ray tube has a broad energy range while you have a monochromatic source."
Something is not right here Dud. We WANT a monoenergetic source, we don't HAVE a monoenergetic source. That's the
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1516
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Re: FW: [XRF] 59.5keV spectrum cleanup
Geo,
Actually this is for knocking down broad energy x-rays so the skin doesn¡¯t get burned and you get a good x-ray by passing portions of the higher energy through to the target. The x-ray tube
By
Dude
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#1515
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Re: FW: [XRF] 59.5keV spectrum cleanup
" Geo,
I don¡¯t see how normalizing accounts for flux?"
In X-Ray jargon, what I'm doing is applying a "hardening filter" to the X-Ray beam from the exciter. In this case the exciter is a
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1514
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