Upgrade of the external beamline at the microanalytical center of the Jozef Stefan Institute

The existing external beamline at the Microanalytical Centre of the Jozef Stefan Institute (JSI) in Ljubljana has been upgraded in order to extend the capabilities towards in-air PIXE imaging across relatively large sample surface area (similar to 1 cm(2)) with lateral resolution of sub 100 mu m. For that purpose, a doublet of magnetic quadrupole lenses was installed on the beamline together with the newly designed exit nozzle with a 200 nm Si3N4 exit window resulting finally in similar to 50 x 50 mu m(2) lateral resolution. Additionally, an in-vacuum beam chopper was installed before the exit nozzle to measure the proton dose deposited on the sample. The beam characterization results are presented together with the first application from the field of biology, namely quantitative concentration maps of a longitudinal section of a whole thick wheat grain.

Automated summary

The external beamline at the Microanalytical Centre of the Jozef Stefan Institute has been upgraded to enable in-air PIXE imaging with a lateral resolution of approximately 50 x 50μm(2). The first application in the field of biology was the quantitative concentration mapping of a longitudinal section of a whole thick wheat grain.