A new portable XRF Spectrometer with a Beam Stability Control

A new portable XRF spectrometer which allows control of the energy and the intensity stability of the emitted x-raybeamhasbeen designed and built. The control is obtained by measuring the x-ray fluorescence generated by a double Ag/Ba thin target when crossed by the x-ray beam during a measurement. The silver and barium fluorescence K lines are detected by an ancillary Si-PIN detector and analysed by software developed at the LNS/INFN laboratories. The new portable spectrometer, the beam stability control method, the evaluation of the system and some quantitative applications of interest in the cultural heritage field are presented and discussed.