A code for quantitative analysis of light elements in thick samples by PIGE

This work presents a code developed for the quantitative analysis of light elements in thick samples by PIGE. The new method avoids the use of standards in the analysis, using a formalism similar to the one used for PIXE analysis, where the excitation function of the nuclear reaction related to the gamma-ray emission is integrated along the depth of the sample. In order to check the validity of the code, we present results for the analysis of Lithium, Boron, Fluorine and Sodium in thick samples. For this purpose, the experimental values of the excitation functions of the reactions 7Li(p,p′γ)7Li, 10B(p,αγ)7Be, 19F(p,p′γ)19F and 23Na(p,p′γ)23Na were used as input. For stopping power cross-sections calculations the semi-empirical equations of Ziegler et al. and the Bragg's rule were used. Agreement between the experimental and the calculated gamma-ray yields was always better than 7.5%.