X-Ray Fluorescence

X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) is a well-established and versatile analytical technique for studying the elemental composition of different kind of materials with detection limits down to the sub-μg/g concentration level for the best excitation/detection conditions. The analytical capabilities of XRF are considerably improved in terms of elemental sensitivity and spatial resolution by using synchrotron radiation (SR) for excitation. Advanced sample manipulator stages make possible to perform near surface, angular dependent and 2D scanning or transmission measurements. In addition, the high resolving power of the crystal monochomators installed at the XRF beam line allows performing X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES) measurements and to gather valuable information on the speciation of the detected elements.
The IAEA end station (IAEAXspe) is equipped with a motorized five-axis sample manipulator that allows different degrees of freedom in the positioning and orientation of the sample surface with respect to the SR beam. Two additional motorized stages provide respective degrees of freedom for positioning monitoring X-ray detectors. Overall, the advanced manipulator of the IAEA endstation makes possible to set different excitation/detection geometries, thus integrating and implementing in one single facility different X-ray spectrometry techniques with complementary analytical performance, such as:

1. Grazing Incidence XRF (GIXRF) and GI-XANES for the investigation of nano-layered structures or shallow dopants in semiconductors with nm depth resolution
2. Total-reflection XRF (TXRF) and TXRF-XANES for the elemental/chemical characterization of liquid samples residues or particulate matter samples collected directly on reflector surfaces the at the ultra-trace concentration level;
3. 2D scanning XRF and XANES for studying and quantifying the elemental composition or chemical speciation over different areas of the sample;
4. X-Ray Reflectometry (XRR) for the structural analysis (thickness, density) of thin films and multi-layered structures.

Research Fields and selected applications

Materials Science: Nano-structured materials for energy storage and conversion technologies, in-depth characterization of implants;

Biomedicine: Bio-sensing technologies and nano-medicine design;

Environmental: Airborne particulate matter, water samples, suspensions;

Biology: Metabolic reactions with essential or toxic elements in plants, to develop/improve biofortification, phytoremediation and phyto-mining techniques;

Cultural heritage: Preventive conservation and archaeometry;

Food  traceability and safety: Authenticity /contamination with hazardous metals;

X-ray fundamentals: Experimental determination of cross sections, fluorescence yields and emission probabilities.

 

Users Area

Call for proposals The next deadline for proposal submission will be on the 16th of September 2019 (h. 23:59 local time).   Proposal Submission Collaborators and users are invited to contact the beamtime scientists well in advance the proposal submission deadline to discuss their proposals. This is of great importance to ensure the over whole feasibility of their experiments and a clear assessment of the technical requirements. In some cases, some test experiments can be organized. For more information, please visit the XRF beamline users' corner or the User Area. Experimental chambers can be temporarily accommodated at the beamline to make use of the monochromatic beam (3.7-14 keV). For more information, please contact the beamline scientists.   Users from developing countries can benefit from IAEA technical support (proposal writing, data acquisition and analysis) for further information visit: www.iaea.org Note that proposals can be submitted either via the Elettra Virtual User Office, or via the Way for Light portal.

Quick Links Elettra User Office Virtual Unified Office (VUO) Access request Beamtime Schedule Machine shifts plan