neutron activation analysis

The neutron activation analysis (NAA) is a highly sensitive method to identify and quantify the (trace) elements in various materials.

For this purpose a sample is irradiated with thermal neutrons. The irradiated nuclei can catch a neutron, thus they become activated, i.e. transforming it into a radioactive nuclide. When this nuclide decays, gamma radiation occurs, which has a specific energy for each radionuclide.

This gamma radiation can then be allocated to a certain (trace) element, similar to a finger print of a specific person.