Development of non-destructive isotope measurement of the natural galena (PbS) using negative muon beams

Abstract

In Earth and planetary science, Pb isotopic composition is well known to play a key role in deciphering the origin and evolution of materials because they provide unique chronological and/or indigenous regional information as a radiogenic daughter nuclide from U and Th. To determine such an isotopic composition, mass spectrometers have been widely used over several decades, which requires a destructive/consuming treatment such as sputtering, laser ablation and thermal ionization. Here, we first report the non-destructive Pb isotopic measurement of natural galena (PbS) using the energy shift of muon-induced characteristic X-rays. The observed Pb isotopic composition of the natural galena is in good agreement with that obtained by conventional mass spectrometry. Such a muon-based Pb isotopic analysis method is expected to be applied to identify the production area of archaeological artefacts (e.g. bronze products), where non-destructive analysis is highly desirable compared to conventional mass spectrometry.