Density measurements on a thin material from x-ray backscattering

X-ray and gamma-ray backscattering is widely used in monitoring the density of a material whose thickness exceeds the saturation value for the source energy. However, for a thin material (some mm), it is difficult to use existing density-measurement methods based on x-ray backscattering because of stringent surface-state specification. In this paper a method is described for measuring the density of a material of low atomic number by a two-channel method based on low-energy x-ray backscattering. The effects of anode-voltage fluctuations on the density measurement accuracy are estimated, and experimental data are given