Mapping elemental distributions of heavy elements using tunable gamma-ray beams

A non-destructive analysis of the distribution of heavy elements in samples can be performed using tunable gamma-ray sources. By scanning a sample usi ng photons having two energies, one just below and one just above the K-edg e of the element under study, the reconstructed distribution becomes only s ensitive to this element. Here we show that the distribution of a sample co ntaining several heavy elements can be reconstructed element by element. We also study how far the method can be made quantitative. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.