Chemical Group Separation in Radioactivation Analysis

Abstract

THE technique of detection and measurement of low concentrations of impurities by means of radioactivation analysis is now well established and the principles involved are well described in the literature^1,2. For a large number of elements the technique is extremely sensitive and the sensitivity is limited only by the natural background radioactivity and the intensity of the neutron flux available. Some limitation on sensitivity is imposed by the neutron absorption characteristics of the material being analysed and the distance from the neutron source to the place of analysis. These limitations, however, are not generally serious. The work presented here describes the use of the foregoing analytical technique in conjunction with a chemical group separation. This procedure has been applied to the analysis of mineral specimens³ and appeared suitable for application to the analysis of single crystal specimens of germanium, in order to obtain information about the concentration of several possible impurities in the samples.