Application of coincidence techniques to X-ray fluorescence analysis

Two methods are presented for the reduction of background in X-ray fluorescent spectra. This is achieved by requiring coincidence between either the photoelectron and the characteristic X-ray or the K- and L-characteristic X-rays of the element of interest. This results in about one order of magnitude loss in the count rate of characteristic X-rays, which can be compensated for by increasing the intensity of the X-ray source. An advantage of the method is that there are virtually no background counts in the spectra. (orig.)