Heavy ion activation analysis of thin foils by a recoil separation technique

Heavy ion activation analysis (HIAA) has been applied to determine the composition of a thin (thickness ∼ 2 μm) Havar foil. The isotopic products from the heavy ion induced nuclear reactions were recoiled out of the thin target foil due to high recoil energy. Depending on their recoil ranges, the products were collected separately in graded thickness of Al catcher foils. Radioactive counting of target and catcher foils was performed with a high resolution γ-spectrometer and quantitative analysis was carried out by comparator method using elemental standard foils.