X-ray—A boon for elemental analysis

The characteristic X-rays coming out from an unknown sample due to the irradiation of gamma rays or X-ray photons or due to the bombardment of high velocity protons are used for elemental analysis in a sample. We describe here two techniques viz., Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) and Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) which have the capability of nondestructive and multi-elemental analysis of the sample. N K Sharat Singh is a research scholar at the Department of Physics, Manipur University. His research interest lies in areas of EDXRF and PIXE. H Nandakumar Sarma is a professor of physics at Manipur University. His current research focuses on EDXRF, PIXE, ferroelectric, ferrite, Mossbauer effect and solar energy. He occasionally writes popular science articles both in English and Manipuri. An erratum to this article is available at .