A new approach to correcting theoretical emitted intensities for absorption and enhancement effects

This paper introduces the possibility of replacing the usual additive corrections for absorption and enhancement by multiplicative factors. The possibility of deriving simple multiplicative factors to correct for inter‐element matrix effects, namely and , to correct for absorption of primary and secondary radiation, respectively, and enhancement ( ), is demonstrated. The use of the new coefficients, , and , derived directly from mass attenuation coefficients, simplifies the understanding of, and allows the stepwise evaluation of, the excitation of theoretical emitted intensities in XRF spectrometry. The approach is especially useful in providing a more consistent definition of theoretical intensity emitted from an infinitely thick sample, as compared with the classical formalism involving the use of mass attenuation coefficients. The approach has proved particularly useful in the classroom. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.