DETERMINATION OF PHYSICAL QUANTITIES FOR PIXE BY MEANS OF PIXE 2: EFFICIENCY CURVE

Abstract

A new method has been developed for determining detection efficiency of a Si(Li) detector, which is one of the most important quantities in PIXE analysis. In this method, targets prepared by smashing crystals of several chemical compounds into fine pieces and by sprinkling them onto a thin polypropylene film are measured in same experimental condition as in PIXE analysis, and relative efficiency curves are obtained for two Si(Li) detectors. These results are compared with those from theoretical calculations. New efficiency curves are obtained by regarding thickness of the Be window, the Si dead layer, the gold contact and ice layer as variable parameters and practical thicknesses of them are estimated. It is found that these efficiency curves give quantitatively fairly accurate values when they are used for data analysis from NIST bovine liver even in cases of Na and Mg.