Evaluation of a setup for pNRA at LIBAF for applications in geosciences

Abstract

A new setup for photon tagged nuclear reaction analysis pNRA is being developed at Lund’s ion beam analysis facility LIBAF. Particle induced gamma ray emission PIGE and nuclear reaction analysis NRA are two methods that have been extensively used for light isotope measurement in ion beam analysis IBA. There is an abundance of nuclear reactions between light elements and MeV protons, deuterons and alpha particles. This means that in principle all elements from lithium all the way up to chlorine can be analyzed using those techniques. Detection limits can be improved for some elements, if those two methods are fused together into pNRA.The new setup for pNRA will benefit from advances in detector technology that occurred during the last 20years. A LaBr3 scintillator detector and an annular double sided silicon strip detector DSSSD are used in coincidence to detect a gamma and a charged particle respectively. Both detectors are connected to a VME based data acquisition system. Of primary interest in this work is the analysis of isotopic ratios of light elements in geological samples, which are usually thick with a complex matrix. This setup can be for instance used to measure isotopic fractionation of oxygen and boron. We will present the setup and discuss its capabilities.