M x-ray production cross section measurements with photons from low power x-ray tube in elements Th and U

Applications of low energy fluorescence x-rays in various fields has raised the importance of data on M X-ray fluorescence cross sections. Total M shell XRF cross sections have been evaluated theoretically and measured experimentally by a number of workers for some high Z elements. As reported by Sharma et al, most of the work done is at 5.959 keY with the use of radioactive Fe-55 source, the data on individual M line cross section is very scarce because of the complexities involved in the M-shell X-ray spectrum, They have reported their measurements on M X-ray production cross-section for four different groups of M X-ray lines. They measured M, M, M and Mm XRF cross section for elements with Z as 71 Z 92 at 5.959 keV incident photon energy from Fe-55 radioactive source. The use of radioactive sources limits the intensity of incident photons. To get rid of this limitation, presently, an attempt has been made to find M lines XRF cross sections using a low power x-ray tube along with a Si PIN detector in compact single reflection geometry. The selective creation of only M-shell vacancies has been made with Bremsstrahlung radiation from the tube operated at 6-6.5 kV. Some innovative efforts are made to find the weighted average energy of incident radiation above the Medge. The details are as given in the article