Abstract
Analytical methods based on electronic interactions have long been used in the materials analysis laboratory, but determinations based on nuclear spectroscopy are much more recent. If radioactivity is produced by the irradiation and detected afterward, the method is called activation analysis; if radiations emitted instantaneously are detected, it is termed prompt radiation analysis. These two categories will be used for labeling major sections of the discussion that follows. For example, when a material containing carbon is irradiated with a beam of deuterons, one of the nuclear reactions with the carbon, 12C, in the sample is the transformation to radioactive nitrogen, 13N, by the prompt emission of a neutron, n. The carbon content of the sample can be determined either by measurement of the radiation emitted from the radioactive product nuclide, 13N; by activation analysis; or by measuring the yield of neutrons, prompt radiation analysis. Radioactive nuclides that are used in analysis decay with half-lives ranging between milliseconds and thousands of years (the half-life of 13N is 9.96 min); whereas, the prompt radiation from a nuclear reaction is emitted within times less than 10−12 sec after the nuclear reaction is initiated.
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(2007). Nuclear Techniques: Activation Analysis and Prompt Radiation Analysis. In: Fundamentals of Nanoscale Film Analysis. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-29261-8_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-29261-8_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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