TY - JOUR A1 - Guerra, M. F. A1 - Calligaro, T. A1 - Radtke, Martin A1 - Reiche, I. A1 - Riesemeier, Heinrich T1 - Fingerprinting ancient gold by measuring Pt with spatially resolved high energy Sy-XRF JF - Nuclear instruments and methods in physics research B N2 - Trace elements of ancient gold such as Pt, give fundamental information on the circulation of the metal in the past. In the case of objects from the cultural heritage, the determination of trace elements requires non-destructive point analysis in general. These conditions and the need of good detection limits restrain the number of applicable analytical techniques. After the development of a PIXE set-up with a selective Cu or Zn filter of 75 µm and of a PIXE-XRF set-up using a primary target of As, we tested the possibilities of spatially resolved Sy-XRF to determine Pt in gold alloys. With a Zn filter, PIXE showed a detection limit of 1000 ppm in gold while PIXE-XRF lowers this detection limit down to 80 ppm. This last value being constrained by the resonant Raman effect produced on gold. In order to improve the detection limit of Pt keeping the non-destructiveness and access to point analysis, we developed an analytical protocol for XRF with synchrotron radiation at BESSY II, using the BAMline set-up. The L-lines of Pt were excited by a beam of energy above and below 11.564 keV and measured using a Si(Li) detector with a 50 µm Cu filter. A µ-beam of 100–250 µm2 was used according to the size of the sample. The determination of the Pt content in the samples was carried out by Monte-Carlo simulation and subtraction of Au and Pt spectra obtained on pure standards. The limit of detection for Pt of 20 ppm was determined by using certified standards. The detection limits of a small set of other characteristic elements of gold were also measured using an incident energy of 33 keV. KW - PIXE-XRF KW - Sy-XRF KW - Pt KW - Ancient gold KW - Fingerprinting PY - 2005 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2005.06.150 SN - 0168-583X SN - 1872-9584 VL - 240 IS - 1-2 SP - 505 EP - 511 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-14236 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -