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 If a piece of information is incorrect, a link outdated, or the presentation choppy or unclear, the user can just click "Edit Page" at the bottom and then fix the mistake.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: Obsidian
Is there a what looks like a UHF SO-239 connector on the head or the CU series power supply or your version of the LIXI PSU? om: GEOelectronics@... To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, January
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GEOelectronics@...
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#2054
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Re: Obsidian
This one is the PS-500-OS power supply- this version has no HV power supply inside, it is in the head. There are two versions, one controls the HV generator in the head with 12V signals, the other has
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GEOelectronics@...
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#2053
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Re: Obsidian
I have 2 Kevex CU015 power supplies for the head and a LIXI PS-500-OS. What setup are you running? Dud Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2021 8:31 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [XRF] Obsidian Was that out
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Dude
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#2052
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Re: Obsidian
Was that out of a LIXI and has a LIXI controller or does it use a Spellman power supply? To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2021 8:25:00 PM Subject: Re: [XRF] Obsidian No they¡¯re just
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GEOelectronics@...
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#2051
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Re: Obsidian
No they¡¯re just sitting there I haven¡¯t fired it up with anything yet. The plan was to use them with the SiLi detector when I get a load of LN2 but the SDD is so much easier and nicer. Can you run
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Dude
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#2050
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Re: Obsidian
Dud are you using your Kevex? If so on what? Geo To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2021 5:01:02 PM Subject: Re: [XRF] Obsidian That should be the same one I have here a Kevex W micro focus.
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GEOelectronics@...
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#2049
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Re: Obsidian
That should be the same one I have here a Kevex W micro focus. I don¡¯t see why you need to have 2 positions or a detector collimator, it will work fine with just a close up detector and no
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Dude
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#2048
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Re: Obsidian
Low energy is for below W L peaks, like K and Ca. Low energy from sample can't travel far in air, needs to be really close, the W L lines don't interfere with the wanted rays. What I have now is the
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GEOelectronics@...
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#2047
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Re: Obsidian
Geo, What is the high energy position and purpose for both? I¡¯m seeing W in the spectra is this the high energy position run? What Is the purpose of the W 1mm collimator on a 25mm detector? The
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Dude
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#2046
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Re: Obsidian
Back to Obsidian. One of my wife Betty's finds in New Mexico A nice lump with a broken tendril the end of which is glass smooth. Perfect for micro beam XRFing. 1mm beam and 1mm hole in sensor's W
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GEOelectronics@...
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#2044
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Locked
Re: Skimming angle XRF- Experiment
More TXRF testing with improved geometry and 1mm gap for beam:
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GEOelectronics@...
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#2042
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Locked
Re: Skimming angle XRF- Experiment
Back to this version(TXRF)? for some more test results. Keeping the same basic idea, we added a tungsten shield/ with integral 1mm tungsten collimator to the detector, allowing the sensor to be moved
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GEOelectronics@...
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#2041
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Re: Obsidian
Hi Taray and thanks for the updates on medical X-Ray technologies. No I never have worked on or with medical grade machines of any type. I am a federally licensed Radar technician? and could easily
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GEOelectronics@...
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#2040
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Edited
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Re: Obsidian
Geo Are you using a medical grade xray setup?Recently, some??medical??x-ray manufacturers have produced machines that replace the conventional 60-cycle AC high-voltage current of the x-ray tube
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taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#2039
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Re: Obsidian
Geo, Well this sucks. I think you¡¯re right and they are hardening the beam by dumping the low energy components to reduce skin dose. What is your x-ray tube manufacturer and model number? Is this a
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Dude
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#2038
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Re: Obsidian
That's correct. Same as the ratio chart I showed.Nothing at all at 15 keV or lower. Looking at the beam directly with a sensor tells why. There must be a compound filter in or right at the output
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GEOelectronics@...
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#2037
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Re: Obsidian
Geo, Reset the 93 keV energy span to 64 keV, you¡¯re losing almost half of your energy resolution which you¡¯ll need down in the low 15 keV energy range. Set the gain for a 64 keV span with 2048
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Dude
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#2036
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Re: Obsidian
Geo, Moist of these MCA files have nothing in them 50kV, 40, 30 seem ok but 20 have very few counts and 15 has no counts same with all. You are getting no signal below 30 The data are very noisy as I
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Dude
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#2035
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Re: Obsidian
Theory says Fe and Ca should XRF with quite low energy excitement = "just above the K-edge". . Fortunately the test was left as-is last night, so it was easy to redo and save example .mca's. so here's
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GEOelectronics@...
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#2034
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Edited
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Re: Trinitite
GeoHere is an interesting article about trinitite.If you refer to page 76,it states that Ba is also being contributed by barite from the sandI don¡¯t own one so I cannot comment further?Enjoy the
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taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#2032
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