FT-IR measurement on the damage of Japanese paper induced by PIXE analysis

Analysis of cultural heritage samples by PIXE involves the risk of damaging precious samples due to MeV-proton irradiation. To investigate appropriate methods to detect invisible damage due to PIXE analysis, we analyzed the change in chemical bonding of the sample surface subjected to PIXE and RBS measurement by Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy (FT-IR). We used Japanese hemp paper as a simulated cultural property sample. The proton irradiation for the PIXE/RBS measurement was performed in a vacuum with an incident beam energy of 2.5 MeV, a beam current of 1 nA, and an irradiation time up to 10 min. The corresponding beam flux and fluence were 0.06 nA/mm2 and 4 [Formula: see text]Coulomb/cm2, respectively. When the irradiation time was 10 min, the absorbed dose was 480 kGy on the sample surface. We identified neither change of elemental composition nor visible change such as discoloration due to irradiation. However, we found changes in peak heights in the measured FT-IR spectra, which suggest the destruction of chemical bonds such as O–H and C–O due to proton-induced radiation damage.