Particle induced X-ray emission and complementary nuclear methods for trace element determination. Plenary lecture

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Abstract
In this review the state-of-the-art of particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) methods for the determination of trace elements is described. The developmental work has mostly been carried out in nuclear physics laboratories, where accelerators are available, but now the increased interest has led to the establishment of other dedicated PIXE facilities. The reason for this interest is the versatility, high sensitivity and multi-elemental capability of PIXE analysis. A further very important advantage is that PIXE can be combined with the microbeam technique, which makes elemental mapping with a spatial resolution of about 1 µm possible. As a technique, PIXE can be combined with other nuclear reactions such as elastic scattering and particle-induced gamma emission, so that light elements can be determined. The usefulness of PIXE is illustrated by a number of typical applications in biology, medicine, geology, air pollution research, archaeology and the arts.

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