Nondestructive elemental depth-profiling analysis by muonic X-ray measurement

二宮 和彦*; 久保 謙哉*; 長友 傑*; 髭本 亘; 伊藤 孝; 河村 成肇*; Strasser, P.*; 下村 浩一郎*; 三宅 康博*; 鈴木 栄男*; et al.

Analytical Chemistry, 87(9), p.4597 - 4600, 2015/05

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.5b01169

Elemental analysis of materials is fundamentally important to science and technology. Many elemental analysis methods have been developed, but three-dimensional nondestructive elemental analysis of bulk materials has remained elusive. Recently, we developed a nondestructive depth-profiling elemental analysis method after a decade of research. This new method utilizes a new type of probe; a negative muon particle and high-energy muonic X-rays emitted after the muon stops in a material. We performed elemental depth profiling on an old Japanese gold coin (Tempo-Koban) using a low-momentum negative muon beam and successfully determined that the Au concentration in the coin gradually decreased with depth over a micrometer length scale.