The Tsukuba high-energy nuclear microprobe for hydrogen analysis of mineral samples

Abstract A microprobe system has been constructed using the 12 MV tandem accelerator in the University of Tsukuba. This system is designed and developed for hydrogen analysis with proton–proton elastic recoil coincidence spectroscopy for thick mineral samples with thicknesses up to 200 μm and with the nuclear reaction H( 19 F, αγ) for thin samples. The focusing lens consists of four quadrupole magnets arranged in a Russian-type configuration. All components of the system are controlled and adjusted by a personal computer. The minimum beam spot size achieved so far is 14 × 6 μm 2 for a 20 MeV proton beam at a beam current of 0.1 nA. First performance tests and results are reported.