SET-UP AND IMPROVEMENTS OF THE PIXE FACILITY AT ININ, MEXICO

A description of the set-up and improvements incorporated in the Insti tuto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares (ININ) PIXE facility is pre sented, The ion beam used is provided by a 12 MV tandem Van de Graaff accelerator. The main changes include installation of a set of quadrup oles at the entrance of the PIXE line, relocation of the scattering fo il, and inclusion of newly designed slits and collimators for beam con trol. The beam size was checked along the PIXE line for acceptable div ergence and was found in good agreement with the predicted size obtain ed from a local computer simulation program. In addition, a new detect or mount incorporates fine adjustments so as to facilitate the accurat e positioning of the detector at all times. Changes resulted in a gene ral improvement of the facility and a gain in confidence and reproduci bility.