Azimuthal Anisotropy of the Scattered Radiation in Grazing Incidence X-ray Fluorescence.

The Compton and elastic scattering radiations are the major contributor to the spectral background of an x-ray fluorescence spectrum, which eventually limits the element detection sensitivities of the technique to μg/g (ppm) range. In the present work, we provide a detail mathematical descriptions and show that how polarization properties of the synchrotron radiation influence the spectral background in the x-ray fluorescence technique. We demonstrate our theoretical understandings through experimental observations using total x-ray fluorescence measurements on standard reference materials. Interestingly, the azimuthal anisotropy of the scattered radiation is shown to have a vital role on the significance of the x-ray fluorescence detection sensitivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]