A metallic magnetic calorimeter dedicated to the spectrometry of L X-rays emitted by actinides

Abstract

Many actinides emit intense L X-rays consecutively to their decay. However the intensities of these X-rays are not well known: they are generally calculated with relatively large uncertainties and do not always agree with existing measurements. The latter ones are obtained with semiconductor spectrometers, but due to their insufficient energy resolution, these detectors are not able to separate the many X-ray lines and to give detailed emission intensities. So new measurements of precise and detailed L X-ray emission intensities are required. These would be beneficial on the one hand for the knowledge of the decay schemes and on the other hand as reference data for end-users of X-ray spectrometry. Therefore a spectrometer with a high energy resolution has been developed based on the technology of metallic magnetic calorimeters. The L X-ray spectra from 241Am and 210Pb decays show a FWHM energy resolution of 26 eV associated with a constant detection efficiency between 5 and 26 keV. With such performance, about 30 relative L X-ray intensities can be determined for 241Am and 210Pb. The measured emission intensities of L X-ray groups are compared with those published as obtained with conventional techniques; the good agreement between the data validated our technique.