The use of electron backscattering as fast imaging technique with molecular beams

Abstract

Electron backscattering has been performed using a Centaurus detector, developed especially for low-energy electron backscattering. A H 2 + beam of energy 5 MeV was used, with each proton having 2.5 MeV, and the accompanying electron having an energy of 1.3 keV. The backscattered electrons were measured simultaneously with the particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and Rutherford backscattering (RBS) signals, as complementary information. Results show that the electron backscattering signals indeed offer elemental information in imaging at least an order of magnitude faster than PIXE. This may result in novel applications in imaging of geological grains, with subsequent trace element analysis.