THE USE OF PIXE AND COMPLEMENTARY ION-BEAM ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR STUDIES OF ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS

PIXE is nowadays a routine analytical technique in the study of atmosp heric aerosols. If it aspires to continue to be so in the future, it w ill have to compete with a range of other powerful analytical techniqu es, and outperform them in some respect. It will be shown how PIXE can indeed play an important role in future studies of atmospheric aeroso ls. For clarification, two concrete examples will be discussed in some detail, involving PIXE either as the sole analytical technique or use d in combination with various other ion beam analytical techniques for an almost complete characterisation of the atmospheric aerosol.