Chemical environment change analysis on L X-ray emission spectra of some lanthanide compounds

•Changes in chemical environment effects intensity ratio and line parameters.•Nd, Sm, Gd and Tb electronic structure change with this effect.•There is correlation between the intensity ratio changes with crystal symmetry and the effective numbers of 5d electrons.

Lα, Lβ1 and Lγ emission line shapes and intensity ratio values have been measured for the elements Nd, Sm, Gd and Tb and for a large number of their compounds. The measurements were done using the EDXRF system, where special attention was given to minimizing the errors in various corrections such as self absorption and detector efficiency. All the lines were excited using a 100 mCi 241Am annular radioactive source. The energy shifts and Lα/Lβ1 and Lα/Lγ intensity ratio values of X-rays were examined for chemical effect. The measured Lα/Lβ1 and Lα/Lγ intensity ratios were compared with the experimental and theoretical data in literature.