Low-radiation dose XRF excited by MeV protons for cultural heritage samples

Abstract In this work, we tested a setup of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) excited by proton-induced quasi-monochromatic X-rays (proton-induced XRF (PIXRF)) as low-radiation dose analytical technique for precious cultural heritage samples. The low-dose performance the PIXRF is experimentally assessed in comparison with conventional XRF. For assessment, prepared test samples, which simulated original Japanese paintings copper-bearing pigments. By introducing figure-of-merit, found to potentially give better terms radiation sample and limit detection, albeit degraded multi-elemental capability. can be cost-effective method perform low measurements if introduced an existing PIXE facility.