DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL PIXE FACILITY AT PANJAB UNIVERSITY CYCLOTRON, CHANDIGARH (INDIA)

Abstract

A description of modifications in the variable energy cyclotron (VEC) Chandigarh along with the installation of Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) setup is presented. A new main magnet power supply of 400A/125V out put with ±10 ppm stability and a new stabilized solid state power supply for RF oscillator has improved the beam characteristics substantially. A new chamber has been designed to cater for Proton Induced Gamma Emission (PIGE) and Rutherford Back Scattering (RBS) along with PIXE measurements. The HPGe x-ray detector, the Ge(Li) γ-ray detector and a silicon surface barrier (SSB) detector can be mounted simultaneously in the chamber for this purpose. A Turbo-Molecular vacuum pump is provided to produce a clean vacuum of the order of 10-8 mbar in the PIXE chamber. A remotely controlled stepper motor is provided to move the wheel having 12/24-position target holder. Beam size optimization along with the minimization of background has been done with the help of graphite collimators, thus making the setup suitable for practical applications. Preliminary experiments for the PIXE analysis of aerosol, gunshot residues and kidney stone samples are presented.