A novel mobile XRF scanner combining MA-XRF and micro-XRF techniques and allowing near real-time elemental imaging of macroscopic paintings.

Pinhole and CCD based quasi-optical X-ray imaging technique was applied to investigate the plasma of an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source. Spectrally integrated and energy resolved images were taken from an axial perspective. The comparison of integrated images taken of argon plasma highlights the structural changes affected by some ECRIS setting parameters, like strength of the axial magnetic confinement, RF frequency and microwave power. Photon counting analysis gives precise intensity distribution of the X-ray emitted by the argon plasma and by the plasma chamber walls. This advanced technique points out that the spatial positions of the electron losses are strongly determined by the kinetic energy of the electrons themselves to be lost and also shows evidences how strongly the plasma distribution is affected by slight changes in the RF frequency.

This work describes a tabletop (50 cm × 25 cm × 25 cm) full field X-ray pinhole camera (FF-XPC) presenting high energy- and high spatial-resolution. The FF-XPC consists of a conventional charge-coupled device (CCD) detector coupled, in a coaxial geometry, to a pinhole collimator of small diameter. The X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is induced on the samples with an external low-power X-ray tube. The use of the CCD as an energy dispersive X-ray detector was obtained by adopting a multi-image acquisition in single photon counting and by developing a processing algorithm to be applied in real-time to each of the acquired image-frames. This approach allowed the measurement of X-ray spectra with an energy resolution down to 133 eV at the reference value of 5.9 keV. The detection of the X-ray fluorescence through the pinhole-collimator allowed the two-dimensional elemental mapping of the irradiated samples. Two magnifications (M), determined by the relative sample-pinhole-CCD distances, are used in the present setup. A low value of M (equal to 0.35×) allows the macro-FF-XRF of large area samples (up to 4 × 4 cm(2)) with a spatial resolution down to 140 μm; a large magnification (M equal to 6×) is used for the micro-FF-XRF of small area samples (2.5 × 2.5 mm(2)) with a spatial resolution down to 30 μm.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) jointly with the Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste (EST) operates a multipurpose X-ray spectrometry endstation at the X-ray Fluorescence beamline (10.1L). The facility has been available to external users since the beginning of 2015 through the peer-review process of EST. Using this collaboration framework, the IAEA supports and promotes synchrotron-radiation-based research and training activities for various research groups from the IAEA Member States, especially those who have limited previous experience and resources to access a synchrotron radiation facility. This paper aims to provide a broad overview about various analytical capabilities, intrinsic features and performance figures of the IAEA X-ray spectrometry endstation through the measured results. The IAEA-EST endstation works with monochromatic X-rays in the energy range 3.7-14 keV for the Elettra storage ring operating at 2.0 or 2.4 GeV electron energy. It offers a combination of different advanced analytical probes, e.g. X-ray reflectivity, X-ray absorption fine-structure measurements, grazing-incidence X-ray fluorescence measurements, using different excitation and detection geometries, and thereby supports a comprehensive characterization for different kinds of nanostructured and bulk materials.