X-ray Fluorescence - Other Spectroscopic Methods Using The Same Principle

Other Spectroscopic Methods Using The Same Principle

It is also possible to create a characteristic secondary X-ray emission using other incident radiation to excite the sample:

  • electron beam: electron microprobe (or Castaing microprobe);
  • ion beam: particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE).

When radiated by an X-ray beam, the sample also emits other radiations that can be used for analysis:

  • electrons ejected by the photoelectric effect: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), also called electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA)

The de-excitation also ejects Auger electrons, but Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) normally uses an electron beam as the probe.

Confocal microscopy X-ray fluorescence imaging is a newer technique that allow control over depth, in addition to horizontal and vertical aiming, for example, when analysing buried layers in a painting.

Read more about this topic:  X-ray Fluorescence

Famous quotes containing the words methods and/or principle:

    The methods by which a trade union can alone act, are necessarily destructive; its organization is necessarily tyrannical.
    Henry George (1839–1897)

    The principle of majority rule is the mildest form in which the force of numbers can be exercised. It is a pacific substitute for civil war in which the opposing armies are counted and the victory is awarded to the larger before any blood is shed. Except in the sacred tests of democracy and in the incantations of the orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force.
    Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)