2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Development of non-destructive elemental analysis method using negative muon beam

Planned Research

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Project Area	Toward new frontiers : Encounter and synergy of state-of-the-art astronomical detectors and exotic quantum beams
Project/Area Number	18H05460
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Review Section	Science and Engineering
Research Institution	Osaka University
Principal Investigator	Kazuhiko Ninomiya 大阪大学, 放射線科学基盤機構附属ラジオアイソトープ総合センター, 准教授 (90512905)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	齋藤努国立歴史民俗博物館, 大学共同利用機関等の部局等, 教授 (50205663) 大澤崇人国立研究開発法人日本原子力研究開発機構, 原子力科学研究部門原子力科学研究所物質科学研究センター, 研究主幹 (70414589)
Project Period (FY)	2018-06-29 – 2023-03-31
Keywords	負ミュオン / ミュオン原子 / 非破壊分析 / ミュオン特性X線 / 三次元分析
Outline of Final Research Achievements	When a muon is introduced into a material, the muon is captured by an atom, and forms a muonic atom. After formation of a muonic atom, it emits muonic X-rays. In recent years, elemental analysis methods using muonic X-rays have been developed. This method can identify elements deeply inside of a material without sample destruction, and this method has been applied to analysis of valuable samples. The purpose of this research is to develop this method; by constructing a low-background measurement system, the detection limit of this method has been greatly improved, and even a 10 mg sample can be analyzed. As a result, we succeeded in analyzing the grains of the asteroid Ryugu. Furthermore, we have established a non-destructive three-dimensional elemental distribution analysis method by using a CdTe two-dimensional detector. By this experiment, it becomes possible to obtain three-dimensional elemental distributions of valuable archaeological materials in a non-destructive manner.
Free Research Field	放射化学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	非破壊の元素分析は、多くの研究分野において非常に有用な技術の一つであり、特に考古学など貴重資料を取り扱う分野においては唯一の分析手段となりうる。その中で物質内部の元素を分析できる、ミュオン元素分析法は有用であり非常に注目されている。本研究ではこの分析法の拡張に成功し、社会的に関心の高い小惑星リュウグウの石の分析に成功しただけでなく、貴重な文化財の三次元的な元素分布を非破壊で得る手法を確立することができた。本研究成果により、今後様々な貴重な文化財の非破壊分析が行うことが可能となり、異分野への量子ビーム応用利用研究の展開が期待される。