Development of a multi-detector and a systematic imaging system on the AGLAE external beam

The New AGLAE external beamline provides analytical data for the understanding of the structure of archaeological and artistic objects, their composition, properties, and changes over time. One of the objectives of this project is to design and set up a new non-invasive acquisition system increasing the quality of the X-ray spectra and reducing the beam current on sensitive materials from work of art. To that end, the surface and the number of PIXE detectors have been increased to implement a cluster of SDD detectors. This can also provide the possibility to accomplish large and/or fast maps on artifacts with a scanning of the beam on the sample. During the mapping, a multi-parameter system saves each event from X-ray, gamma and particle detectors, simultaneously with the X and Y positions of the beam on the sample. To process the data, different softwares have been developed or updated. A first example on a decorated medieval shard highlights the perspectives of the technique. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.