Survey of elemental specificity in positron annihilation peak shapes

Abstract

Recently the detailed interpretation of positron-annihilation \ensuremath{\gamma}-ray peak shapes has proven to be of interest with respect to their chemical specificity. In this contribution, we show highly resolved spectra for a number of different elements. To this purpose, annihilation spectra with strongly reduced background intensities were recorded in the two detector geometry, using a variable-energy positron beam. Division of the subsequently normalized spectra by a standard spectrum (in our case the spectrum of pure silicon) yields quotient spectra, which display features characteristic of the sample material. First we ascertain that the specific spectrum of an element is conserved in different chemical compounds, demonstrated here by identical oxygen spectra obtained from both ${\mathrm{SiO}}_{2}/\mathrm{Si}$ and MgO/Mg. Second, we show highly resolved spectra for a number of different elements (Fe\dots{}Zn, Ag, Ir\dots{}Au). We show that the characteristic features in these spectra vary in a systematic fashion with the atomic number of the element and can be tentatively identified with particular orbitals. Finally, for 26 different elements we compare the maximum intensity in the quotient spectra with the relative atomic density in the corresponding element. To our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive survey of such data made to date.