Speaker
Description
In the framework of collaboration with the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and FLNP, JINR experiments to study the materials found during archaeological excavations were conducted. The measurements were carried out at the IREN facility in FLNP. The method of neutron resonance capture analysis was used to determine the elemental composition of the samples. The elements and isotopes are identified by measuring neutron resonance energies in the radiative capture reaction, and their concentration in the sample is determined by measuring the output of γ-quanta in the observed resonances. In the analysis, comparative measurements with the test and standard samples are used.
The area method is used for processing the resonances on the time-of-flight spectra.
The output of γ-quanta in the resonance is: ΣN = Π(Е)εγ(Γγ/Γ)A
where ΣN - the number of counts in the resonance, Π(Е) – the neutron flux in the resonance region, εγ - the detection efficiency of the γ- ray detector, Γγ,Γ - the radiative and the full width of the resonance, respectively, A - the area of the resonance.
The mass of the isotope is deduced from the value of A - the area of the resonance - which depends on the parameters of the resonance and the concentration of the isotope.
The non-destructive nature of the method and practical absence of induced activity makes it possible to study samples of any shape and size, which makes such analysis an effective tool for studying archaeological artifacts and cultural heritage samples.
