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Integration of Neutron-Based Elemental Analysis and Imaging to Characterize Complex Cultural Heritage Objects

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Handbook of Cultural Heritage Analysis

Abstract

Prompt-gamma activation analysis (PGAA), a nondestructive, neutron-based bulk elemental analysis method, has been actively used for more than 20 years to characterize homogeneous artifacts, such as stone tools, glassware, pottery, coins, bronze or iron items, gold and silver artifacts, as presented in Chap. 46. However, many heritage objects are composite. Here, instead of a bulk average, the local elemental composition should be determined, and the concentrations shall be attributed to a certain region of those objects. These cases can be better addressed by a combined interpretation of topological, visual, and compositional information.

To extend the scope of the PGAA method towards the detailed characterization of these nonhomogeneous or heterogeneous objects, the sampling volume of the element analysis has been reduced from several cm3 to few hundred mm3 at most, while the concentrations are measured at several spots in a row: This approach was established in 2006 as prompt-gamma activation imaging (PGAI).

Complementary neutron and X-ray imaging, as well as structured-light optical 3D scanning, are known to be well-suited techniques to define the structural and morphological features of objects. Here the synergies between the position-sensitive element analysis and these imaging methods are discussed, as well as their joint applications in heritage science.

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Abbreviations

ANCIENT CHARM:

Analysis by neutron-resonant capture imaging and other emerging neutron techniques: New cultural heritage and archaeological research methods

BNC:

Budapest Neutron Centre, HU

CCD:

Charge-coupled device

CHARISMA:

Cultural Heritage Advanced Research Infrastructures: Synergy for a multidisciplinary approach to conservation/restoration

E-RIHS:

European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science

FOV:

Field of view

FRM II:

Forschungsneutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, DE

FWHM:

Full-width at half maximum

HPGe:

High-purity germanium detector

IAEA:

International Atomic Energy Agency

ICP-MS:

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

IMAT:

Cold-neutron imaging facility installed on the ISIS second target station

IPERION CH:

Integrated Platform for the European Research Infrastructure ON Cultural Heritage

ISIS:

Pulsed neutron source operated by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK

JRR-3:

Japan Research Reactor 3

LEGe:

Low-energy germanium

LYSO:

Lutetium-yttrium-orthosilicate

MCNP:

Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code

MTF:

Modulation transfer function

NAA:

Instrumental neutron activation analysis

NDP:

Neutron depth profiling

NI:

Neutron imaging

NIPS-NORMA:

Neutron-induced prompt gamma-ray spectroscopy – Neutron Optics and Radiography for Material Analysis station at the Budapest Neutron Centre

NIST:

National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA

NR:

Neutron radiography

NRCA:

Neutron resonance capture analysis

NT:

Neutron tomography

PIXE:

Particle-induced X-ray emission spectroscopy

PGAA:

Prompt-gamma activation analysis method, and also the prompt-gamma activation analysis facility at the Budapest Neutron Centre

PGAI:

Prompt-gamma activation imaging

RAD:

Static/dynamic thermal-neutron and X-ray imaging station at the Budapest Neutron Centre

SANS:

Small-angle neutron scattering

sCMOS:

Scientific complementary metal-oxide semiconductor

TOF:

Time-of-flight

XRF:

X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

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Acknowledgments

L.Sz. gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the János Bolyai Research Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the Project No. 124068 of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund of Hungary, financed under the K_17 funding scheme. Some of the experiments presented here were carried out with financial contributions from the CHARISMA (EC FP7 Grant No: 228330) and IPERION CH (EC H2020 Grant No: 654028) projects. We are thankful to colleagues in the ANCIENT CHARM (EC NEST Grant No: 015311) project, especially the FRM II PGAA team, for the successful collaboration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nuclear Analysis and Radiography Department, Centre for Energy Research, Budapest, Hungary

    László Szentmiklósi, Zoltán Kis & Boglárka Maróti

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  1. László Szentmiklósi
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Correspondence to László Szentmiklósi .

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  1. Department of Geosciences, University of Malta, Msida, Malta

    Sebastiano D'Amico

  2. University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Valentina Venuti

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Szentmiklósi, L., Kis, Z., Maróti, B. (2022). Integration of Neutron-Based Elemental Analysis and Imaging to Characterize Complex Cultural Heritage Objects. In: D'Amico, S., Venuti, V. (eds) Handbook of Cultural Heritage Analysis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60016-7_10

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