Micro-PIXE on thin plant tissue samples in frozen hydrated state: A novel addition to JSI nuclear microprobe

For first measuring attempts a standard micro-PIXE configuration for tissue mapping was used with proton beam cross section of 1.2 × 1.2 μm2 and a beam current of 100 pA. The temperature of the cold goniometer head was kept below 130 K throughout the entire proton beam exposure. First measurements of thin plant tissue samples in frozen hydrated state show minute sample degradation during the 10 h period of micro-PIXE measurements.