A large area full-field EDXRF imaging system based on a THCOBRA gaseous detector

Abstract

By taking advantage of the attractive features in terms of gain, position and energy resolution of the 2D-THCOBRA detector, a new large area Full-Field X-ray Fluorescence Imaging (FF-XRFI) system for EDXRF imaging applications was developed. The proposed FF-XRFI system has an active area of 10 × 10 cm² and can be used to examine macroscopic samples with a moderately good energy resolution (<1.6 keV FWHM at 8 keV) and a suitable spatial resolution (∼500 μm FWHM). This combination of characteristics allows us to record elemental distribution maps from the surface of different sample types by combining image and energy information. Two different approaches were used for X-ray optics, one based on a single pinhole and another based on a parallel multiple-hole collimator. To illustrate the system capabilities, some sample examples were imaged and studied.