PIXE and RBS applied to cultural heritage objects: Complementarity and limitations

This paper reports on the use of PIXE and RBS (resonant and non-resonant RBS) implemented with proton beams to simultaneously analyse light and heavy elements in materials of cultural heritage significance, as exemplified by Russian icons or in lead seals. It is shown that in spite of its poor mass resolution RBS with protons can provide useful information when combined with PIXE. In the case of Russian icons, it is possible to discriminate between an Au-Ag bilayer and an alloy of these metals in the gilds. However, when applied to lead seals RBS with protons encounters a significant limitation due to some deficiency in the available computer programs used for spectrum processing. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.