RETINA
General Information
RETINA provides non-destructive material analysis of various medium-sized samples via X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, and 2D/3D X-ray imaging techniques.
Tecnical description
The radiation source is a high-power X-ray tube (RTC1000HS by IAE), emitting X-rays with a maximum energy from 40 keV to 150 keV. The anodic current can reach up to 5 mA in continuous mode, and 200 mA in pulsed mode, resulting in an integral fluence at 1m in the order of 1E8 and 1E10 photons/cm2/s, respectively.
A high-precision sample positioning system from THORLABS is installed in the facility. The system can move the sample along 3 translation axis and can rotate it along the vertical axis. This, combined with an adjustable collimator, enables elemental mapping of planar samples with millimeter resolution. All the stages are installed on an optical table, allowing for room to mount user instrumentation near the sample. Characteristic X-ray spectra are measured via a Peltier-cooled CdZnTe detector (XR-100T-CZT by Amptek). X-rays from about 3 keV up to 90 keV can be measured; energy resolution is about 0.4 keV FWHM at the energy of the Fe K-alpha.
Owing to the well-characterized energy spectrum of the source, and the use of a thin XRF calibration standard (from AXO), the RETINA facility can perform quantitative XRF on planar, medium-sized samples. Concentration derivation from the XRF spectra is based on a fundamental parameter method facilitated through the PyMCA software.
For X-ray imaging purposes, RETINA has 3 X-ray cameras with
Research areas and applications
Non-Destructive Testing, XRF, Tomography, Fuel Cells, Battery, Thin Films
Science highlights
Experimental team
- Andrea Pola
- Politecnico di Milano
- Professor
- Francesco Casamichiela
- Politecnico di Milano
- IT
- Aixeen Manuel Fontanilla
- Politecnico di Milano
- PhD student