Principles of non-destructive analysis method by means of muons and its progress

Elementary particle muons are the particles that can be artificially generated in large accelerator facilities. When muons are driven into a material, very high-energy photons called muon-characteristic X-rays are emitted. In recent years, the developments of non-destructive element analysis methods and isotope analysis methods targeting the inside of materials using the muon-characteristic X-rays have been promoted. This paper introduces non-destructive analysis methods using muons, which have different characteristics from other analysis methods. (A.O.)