DETERMINATION OF TRACE RARE EARTHS BY X-RAY EXCITED OPTICAL FLUORESCENCE

A rapid, quantitative analytical technique for the analysis of rare earth impurities in yttrium oxide and gadolinium oxide is described. The method, X-ray excited optical fluorescence, uses high-energy X-rays to excite characteristic line spectra of rare earth impurities in appropriate matrices. The excited rare earth impurities fluoresce with simple line emission spectra which can be used for quantitative estimation. Dy, Tb, Eu, Gd, Nd, Tm, Er, Ho. Yb, Pr, and Sm have been determined by this method with detection limits which range from 0.002 to 10 ppm in Y2O3 and Gd2O3. The sensitivity of this method is matrix dependent and the detection limits in other rare earth oxide systems are discussed. © 1968.