Kα x‐ray emission induced by 1—100 MeV protons

Abstract

In the course of a feasibility study of high-intensity sources of monochromatic x-rays to be used for XRF, extensive numerical calculations were conducted on the production of characteristic x-rays by proton bombardment of pure element targets. This paper presents the analytical model used for the computer simulations and compares the x-ray production by protons and alpha particles. The K x-ray production cross-section was calculated by the ECPSSR theoretical model and by Paul's analytical formula. The dependence of the x-ray yield on projectile energy, target atomic number, target thickness and irradiation geometry is discussed. The thick target Ka x-ray yields produced by 1-100 MeV proton bombardment were calculated for 66 elements from Na to Pb. From these results, a number of scaling laws and fitting procedures are given for proton-induced Ka x-rays.