Indirect determination of Li via 74Ge(n,γ)75mGe activation reaction induced by neutrons from 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction

An indirect method to determine Li by 74Ge(n,γ)75mGe activation reaction induced in a high purity Ge (detector) crystal by neutrons from the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction in a typical particle-induced γ-ray emission (PIGE) spectroscopy experimental set-up is described. Performed with proton beams of energies in excess of 1.88 MeV, the threshold energy (Eth) of the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction, the determination involves the activity measurement of 75mGe isotope that has a half-life of 47.7 s and decays with the emission of 139 keV γ-rays. Rapidity, selectivity and sensitivity down to ppm levels are the attractive features of the method. It is a suitable alternative to 7Li(p,p′γ)7Li reaction based PIGE technique in the analyses of matrices that contain light elements such as Be, B, F, Na and Al in significant proportions. Interferences can arise from elements, for example V and Ti, that have Eth ⩽ 1.88 MeV for (p,n) reaction. In the case of elements such as Cu, Mo which have with Eth > 1.88 MeV, the incident proton beam energy can be judiciously selected to avoid or minimize an interference. The method, under optimized irradiation conditions, does not entail a risk of neutron stimulated degradation of the performance of the detector. Besides analytical purposes, the measurement of the 75mGe activity can serve as a powerful tool to monitor even low (∼25 n/cm2 s) thermal neutron fluxes.