Material investigation and analysis using characteristic X-ray

The characteristic X-rays emitted from materials after gamma ray exposure was simulated and measured. A CdTe semiconductor detector and a ⁵⁷Co radiation source were used for energy spectroscopy. The types of materials could be identified by comparing the measured energy spectrum with the theoretical X-ray transition energy of the material. The sample composition was represented by the K_α1-line (Siegbahn notations), which has the highest intensity among the characteristic X-rays of each atom. The difference between the theoretic prediction and the experimental result of K-line measurement was < 0.61% even if the characteristic X-rays from several materials were measured simultaneously. 2D images of the mixed materials were acquired with very high selectivity.