Ion beam induced luminescence on white inorganic pigments for paintings

Ion beam induced luminescence (IBIL) has been used for studying the emission features and the radiation hardness of white pigments. In particular, ZnO, gypsum and basic lead sulphate pigments have been analyzed with a 3.0 MeV H+ beam at the AGLAE Louvre laboratory. The same pigments mixed with different binders have been also analyzed on a canvas, in order to evaluate the contribution of the binders both to the IBIL spectra and to the radiation hardness. It turns out that the binder affects both the IBIL spectra and the radiation hardness of pigments when the emission bands are related to point defects, as occurs for ZnO.