News from the Guelph PIXE Group
In the News:
- GUPIX has been upgraded - see our paper J. L. Campbell, N I. Boyd, N. Grassi, P. Bonnick, J. A. Maxwell, The Guelph PIXE software package IV. Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B268 (2010) 3356-3363
- We have contributed the chapter on PIXE analysis to the 2009 edition of the Handbook of Modern Ion Beam Analysis of Materials
- We have completed a new Monte Carlo code for computing the efficiency of Si(Li), SDD and Ge X-ray detectors: please see S. M. Taylor, J. M. O’Meara and J. L. Campbell. A versatile Monte Carlo package for computation of efficiencies of Si(Li), SDD and Ge detectors. X-Ray Spectrometry 39, 191-201 (2010).
- Our new approach to interpreting the X-ray spectra from the Mars Exploration Rovers has led to the first quantitative in situ determination of water concentration in Martian soils. The method involves a Monte Carlo simulation of Rayleigh and Compton scattering on Martian samples, led by colleague Joanne O'Meara. Our results suggest that the bright high-sulfate Paso Robles soils found by the churning effect of the Spirit Rover's wheels contain up to 15% water.
- Our GUAPX code for analysis of combined PIXE-plus-XRF spectra from the Mars Exploration Rovers has been completed, and is being used in the calibration of the Mars Science Laboratory Alpha-Particle X-ray Spectrometer
- A second approach for water determination has been developed within GUAPX during 2009, based upon the "Invisible Element" feature which has existed for many years in our GUPIX code.
- We are working on a major new addition to GUPIXWIN package. GUMAP will convert
micro-PIXE list mode files to element distribution maps, and will provide
quantitative PIXE analysis via GUPIXWIN of user-selected regions on these
maps or on images of the sample.
Contact Us:
J. L. Campbell
Department of Physics
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
N1G 2W1
email: jlc@physics.uoguelph.ca
Fax: +1 (519) 836-9967
Phone: +1 (519) 824-4120 x52325
