Review Updated database and new empirical values for K-shell fluorescence yields A. Kahoul a,b,c,n , V. Aylikci d , N. Kup Aylikci d , E. Cengiz d , G. Apaydın d a Department of Materials Science, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Mohamed Bachir El Ibrahimi University, Bordj-Bou-Arreridj 34000, Algeria b LESIMS laboratory, Physics Department, Faculty of Sciences, Ferhat Abbas University of Setif, 19000 Setif, Algeria c LPCM laboratory, Physics Department, Faculty of Sciences, University of M’Sila, 28000 M’Sila, Algeria d Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts and Science, Karadeniz Technical University, 61080 Trabzon, Turkey article info Article history: Received 30 January 2012 Accepted 7 March 2012 Available online 17 March 2012 Keywords: Empirical fluorescence yields Fluorescence yields Weighted-mean values abstract The measured K-shell fluorescence yield values that were reported in the literature from 1994 to 2011 were reviewed and presented in a table form (about 341 new measurements). The Weighted-mean values of experimental data were fitted by the analytical function to deduce new empirical K-shell fluorescence yields for a broad range of elements. The results were compared with the other theoretical, experimental and semi-empirical values reported in the literature. Reasonable agreement was typically obtained between our result and other works. & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The analytical methods based on X-ray fluorescence are advantageous for practical applications in a variety of fields including atomic physics, X-ray fluorescence surface chemical analysis and medical research and so the accurate fluorescence yields (o K ) are required for these applications. The K shell fluorescence yield of an atom is defined as the probability that a vacancy in the K shell is filled through a radiative transition. Several attempts were made, in a tabular form, for measuring and calculating the K-shell fluorescence yields for a wide range of elements. Fink et al. (1966) was reviewed the experimental K-shell fluorescence yields data published before 1966 (about 143 values for elements with 6 rZ r93). Bambynek et al. (1972) in a review article fitted their collection of the selected most reliable experimental values from aluminum to uranium (13 rZ r92); a total of 56 values were then collected from the literature between 1955 and 1972. Hubbell et al. (1994) compiled more recent experimental values in a table regrouping the data published in the period 1978–1993 (the table has 126 values) for elements with 11 rZ r99, which were obtained from the semi- empirical relation including the available experimental data. Krause (1979) compiled K-shell fluorescence yields (o K ) which were adopted values for elements 5 rZ r110. Large deviations were generally observed between the theoretical, semi-empiri- cal predictions and the experimental values and additionally between the different experimental data themselves. These situa- tions motivated the authors to perform fittings with analytical functions based on the available experimental data to derive the empirical K-shell fluorescence yields. In this study, a summary of the experimental data of the fluorescence yields which were taken directly from different sources (40 papers) published in the period 1994–2011 was presented in a tabular form. Then the empirical K-shell fluores- cence yields of elements in the range 11 rZ r99 were deduced from the fittings of the Weighted-mean and Unweighted means values of all the experimental values published in the period 1960–2011 using a polynomial fit. Finally, the obtained results were presented in a tabular form and compared with theoretical, experimental and other semi-empirical fluorescence yield values. 2. Different definition of measurement and errors When there are different measurements for the same quantity (in this case is the K-shell fluorescence yields o K ) the several definitions of measurements and errors can be calculated as written below. The Unweighted average value is o ¼ P N i ¼ 1 o i N ð1Þ where o i is the experimental fluorescence yields and N is the number of experimental data. Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/radphyschem Radiation Physics and Chemistry 0969-806X/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2012.03.006 n Corresponding author at: Mohamed Bachir El Ibrahimi University, Department of Materials Science, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Bordj-Bou-Arreridj, Algeria. Tel./fax: þ213 035666599. E-mail address: ka_abdelhalim@yahoo.fr (A. Kahoul). Radiation Physics and Chemistry 81 (2012) 713–727