Low-background gamma spectrometry and neutron diffraction in the study of stony meteorites

Riccardo Rossini; Massimiliano Clemenza; Daniela Di Martino; Matthias Laubenstein; Antonella Scherillo; Maya Musa; Maria Pia Riccardi; Giuseppe Gorini

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110653

Low-background gamma spectrometry and neutron diffraction in the study of stony meteorites

Appl Radiat Isot. 2023 Mar:193:110653. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110653. Epub 2023 Jan 9.

Authors

Riccardo Rossini¹, Massimiliano Clemenza², Daniela Di Martino², Matthias Laubenstein³, Antonella Scherillo⁴, Maya Musa⁵, Maria Pia Riccardi⁶, Giuseppe Gorini²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics "G. Occhialini" and Local INFN Division, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy; Department of Physics and Local INFN Division, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, STFC, Didcot, United Kingdom. Electronic address: riccardo.rossini@pv.infn.it.
² Department of Physics "G. Occhialini" and Local INFN Division, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
³ Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), INFN, Assergi, L'Aquila, Italy.
⁴ ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, STFC, Didcot, United Kingdom.
⁵ Department of Physics "G. Occhialini" and Local INFN Division, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
⁶ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.

PMID: 36638625
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110653

Abstract

Non-destructive characterisation of meteorites is here performed on a stony meteorite. The identification of the sample is performed by low-background γ-ray spectrometry in order to determine the presence of certain cosmogenic radionuclides, whereas a mineralogical phase quantitative analysis is carried out by Time-of-Flight Neutron Diffraction (ToF-ND) on the sample as-it-is. The protocol is then validated by applying micro-Raman Spectroscopy (μRS) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS). This paper is focused on γ-ray spectrometry, proving the meteoric origin of the sample, and it also presents some preliminary results of ToF-ND.

Keywords: Low-background gamma spectrometry; Meteorite; Non-destructive; Time-of-flight neutron diffraction.