Gamma Spectrometry Forum

My name is Ed Snible. I’m a software engineer but my hobby is ancient and medieval coins. I’m frustrated at how little metallic analysis is done on ancient coins. I am interested in seeing if I can build my own low-cost XRF setup.

- Ed

Hello Ed,

Welcome to the forum...

Building an XRF setup is in theory not so hard, but the problem we come up against is to find a low energy detector with good resolution. Under 50 KeV energy the pulse height from any detector is small and consequently the resolution is poor, which makes it hard to identify the XRF lines. Myself and others have done psudo XRF spectra using Am241 as the source, but barely able to see peaks.

Commercial XRF analysers normally use CZT detectors, which are expensive and frankly not easy to find on the second hand market.

I have been able to source CZT as a raw crystal without electrodes, but the path from a raw crystal to XRF analyser is a long winding road. I am currently passing a town called "sputter coating"..

But don't let my experience dampen your enthusiasm - it's absolutely doable 👍

Keep us posted on your progress.

Steven

Thanks for the welcome, Steven!

What USB hardware are people using to get the signal into their computers? I found https://www.theremino.com/wp-content/up ... es_ENG.pdf -- but it is seven years old. Or should I use something like GS-PRO-V5 which seems to bypass the need for a separate sound card?

Do you know of software that converts sound card data into a format that can be used by open source analysis software? If not, this is where I will start working.

While I wait for my own hardware, where might I find some poor-resolution sound-card-collected raw signal files to inspect? I'd like to sketch out the computer side. I found the InterSpec software which is free and seems to run on anything. I want to see if I can connect the dots between that and a USB sound card signal.

Ed,

I am obviously positively biased towards the GS-PRO-V5 (pun intended) , it has a built in texas Instruments sound card.

Unless you have unlimited resources my advise would be to focus on the probe (detector) that's where you can make the biggest gain.

Steven