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A novel nondestructive light element analysis method for bulk materials using muon beams was demonstrated. This method is based on the lifetime measurement of muons in a material and performed by measuring muon-decay electrons and identifying elements using the atomic number based on muon lifetimes. Muon irradiation on pure iron and two steel samples with known carbon contents was conducted to prepare a calibration curve for the quantitative analysis. We also performed a muon lifetime measurement for a Japanese sword and successfully determined its carbon content as 0.51 wt% using the calibration curve, without sample destruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variations in isotopic abundance provide useful information for various scientific fields. Herein we performed a feasibility study by non-destructive isotopic analysis of negative muons. We irradiated two lead plate samples, one with the natural isotopic composition and one enriched with 208Pb, with negative muons and observed the gamma rays from 208Tl with a half-life of 3 min generated via muon absorption by 208Pb during muon irradiation. The isotopic abundance of 208Pb in natPb was successfully determined without sample destruction from the gamma ray intensity to be 69%, which agreed well with the mass spectrometry results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elemental isotopic ratios are measured in various research fields and provide useful information regarding age, origin, geological and biological activities, ancient climate, etc. Here, we report a new isotopic analysis method without sample destruction using muon-induced characteristic X-rays. We demonstrated this method by conducting muon-beam irradiation experiments on two Pb plates with different isotopic ratios: natural isotopic composition and artificially enriched 208Pb. The observed broad X-ray peaks of the Pb Kα line around 6 MeV were deconvolved with 206Pb, 207Pb, and 208Pb isotopes, giving the isotopic ratios. The resulting isotopic ratios were consistent with those obtained from mass spectrometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elemental analysis by measurement of muonic X-rays shows great potential for analyzing the elemental composition of a bulk material at a specific depth without sample destruction. For quantitative analysis, muon capture probability is the most important parameter. In this work, the muon capture ratios and muonic X-ray intensity patterns of metal oxides for geochemically and cosmochemically important compounds, MgO, CaO, MnO and Fe3O4, were determined. The muon capture ratios of Ca/Mg and Fe/Mn were proportional to the mixing ratios of CaO/MgO and Fe3O4/MnO. From this relationship, the elemental composition can be determined from the muonic X-ray intensity ratio alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]