Wide area scanning system and carbon microbeams at the external microbeam facility of the INFN LABEC laboratory in Florence L. Giuntini a,b,⇑ , M. Massi a , S. Calusi a,b , L. Castelli a , L. Carraresi a,b , M.E. Fedi a , N. Gelli a , L. Liccioli a,b , P.A. Mandò a,b , A. Mazzinghi a,b , L. Palla c , F.P. Romano d,e , C. Ruberto a,b , F. Taccetti a a Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy b Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy c INFN, Sezione di Pisa and Università di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy d Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto per i Beni Archeologici e Monumentali (IBAM), Via Biblioteca, 4, 95124 Catania, Italy e Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), LNS, Via S.Sofia 62, 95125 Catania, Italy article info Article history: Received 25 July 2014 Received in revised form 16 December 2014 Accepted 16 December 2014 Available online 27 January 2015 Keywords: External carbon microbeam IBA Wide area elemental imaging abstract Recently, developments have been made to the external scanning microbeam of INFN-LABEC laboratory in Florence. A new system for mechanical sample scanning was implemented. This system allows us to acquire large maps (up to 20  20 cm 2 ), of great interest in the Cultural Heritage field. In parallel, the possibility of using carbon microbeams for experiments, such as, for example, ion beam modification of materials and MeV Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry, has been investigated. As a test application, Particle Induced X-ray Emission with carbon microbeams has been performed on a lapis lazuli stone. First results for both wide area imaging and external carbon microbeams are briefly reported. Ó 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction At the LABEC accelerator laboratory in Florence [1–3], a scan- ning system has been available on the microbeam line since the very beginning [4,5] for the acquisition of elemental maps of few mm 2 size by sweeping the beam over the sample surface [6,7]. Presently, a new system has been implemented, allowing us to acquire larger maps (currently up to 20  20 cm 2 ) by means of a 2 axis motor stage, the motivation relying on the great interest of wide area imaging for Cultural Heritage applications (see for exam- ple [8–12] and references therein). In parallel, we have been studying the possibility for new appli- cations by exploiting external microbeams of ions different from hydrogen and helium [13], such as carbon, which can be of interest for example, in MeV Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) or ion implantation in diamonds, where it is appealing since it allows changing the properties of the material without introducing impu- rities. In this regard, the effect of ion-beam induced structural damage on the refractive index in diamond by using carbon ions has been explored since the ’60, see for example Refs. [14,15]. 2. The new wide area scanning system A new sample scanning system has been implemented. Data acquisition is based on a mixed NIM-VME system; the VME is ded- icated to signal digitizing and data writing on disk, while the NIM modules are used to create the gate signal for the peak-sensing ADC (CAEN V1785). Maps up to 20 cm  20 cm can be acquired by means of two motorized precision linear stages (M413 by Physik Instrumente, widely used for precision positioning, see e.g., [16–18]) remotely controlled by a C++ software program, developed by our group, which also manages the X-ray acquisition and the map reconstruc- tion/visualization. The sample is kept in air in front of the beam and is moved with constant velocity (set by the user, maximum 10 mm/s) along the horizontal x (or vertical y, if preferred) direc- tion, except at the ends, where the y position (or x) is incremented by a step (set by the user) and the motion direction reversed. This step is usually set of the order of the beam spot size, the actual limit to the spatial resolution (linear stage design resolution 0.25 lm, unidirectional repeatability 1 lm, backlash 6 lm). In these conditions, ends excluded, the X-ray energies and the sample position (E, x, y) are acquired. It is to be pointed out that this approach does not rely on the widely used procedure based on ‘‘move and then dwell while acquire’’. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2014.12.046 0168-583X/Ó 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author at: Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 348 (2015) 14–17 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nimb