title: Lower limits of detection of synchrotron radiation high-energy X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and its possibility for the forensic application for discrimination of glass fragments.
abstract: Synchrotron radiation high-energy X-ray fluorescence (SR-XRF) analysis utilizing 75.5keV X-ray radiation from beam-line BL37XU at Super Photon Ring 8GeV (SPring-8), a third-generation synchrotron facility, was found to have advantages for forensic discrimination of glass samples. The lower limits of detection (LLD) for calibration curves were at the picogram level for Ba, Ce, and Sm and at the 10pg level for Sr, Zr, Sn, and Hf. The spectrum of NIST SRM 612 glass reference material demonstrated K-line peaks of 31 elements including rare-earth elements, and the relative standard deviations (R.S.D.) of all the measured elements except Ca were less than 9.7%. Fragments of collected sheet glass were used as samples for investigating the application of this technique to forensic analysis. Several trace elements such as Pb, Rb, Sr, Zr, La, Ce, and Hf were detected in the spectra of the samples, and these elements could be used as indexes to characterize the glass samples. But the "lower limits of detection (LLD)" of each element were not examined enough. In this report, these limits by synchrotron radiation X-ray spectrometry were clarified. By these results, this technique should provide an effective approach to the nondestructive discrimination of small glass fragments in the field of forensic science.
authors.affiliation: Forensic Science Laboratory of Hyogo Prefectural Police H.Q., 5-4-1 Shimoyamate-dori, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 650-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakanishi
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishiwaki
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Shimoda
authors.forename: Seiya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muratsu
authors.forename: Masahisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takatsu
authors.forename: Yasuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Terada
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kasamatsu
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suzuki