OK, I'll bite, what type laser is that you're using? I have a Nd:YAG one here that makes 60j output for 1500j in (big honking capacitors -very scary). It'll punch a hole in a quarter, but it scares me too much to run it often (and it's a PITA, water cooled and all). Looks like you're blasting some foil there?
Anyway, here's a link on XRF stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_fluorescence
I perceive that there's a big difference between the affordable (under $10k) ones in scrap yards and the performance often quoted for XRF which has to be the for the very best ones that need things like cryo cooling for the detector and a really nasty-hot X ray source.
As in, the car land speed record is over mach 1. And here's a car I can sell you for $40k that's real fast (my old 2010 camaro SS that hit 200).
Not quite the same...All you're saying with XRF is "I have a car". There's quite a range of available performance out there.
I have a gamma spectroscopy setup here:
http://www.coultersmithing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=337
We really got lucky to score that gallon jug NaI:Tl head for about $550, they normally go for a few $k (sometimes a few is a 2 digit number), and this one might not have enough resolution to really do XRF without some extra effort, or more brains in the interpretation of the results. I'll have to look at the problem more.
Anybody got some adulterated gold/silver they want to let me use as samples? I've got pure stuff already (5 9's, lab stuff). Having just chucked a SO, I don't even have any low grade jewelry around at the moment...she got all that.
Looks like the pros add an X ray prism and some mechanicals to get to better resolution, which can be cheap (f you can score a big single xtal of LiF or something), but it's getting complex to eliminate scatter off junk and other issues. Smaller NaI heads are cheaper, and might be good enough at the lower XRF scatter energies, dunno till I look into it more.
The reason these are regulated is they need a pretty hot X ray source, and those are regulated pretty hard out there - even very hard to find surplus and buy without being a radiologist. Evidently scientists don't count, only doctors. You have to go though considerable red tape to get "approved" for that kind of thing.
Most of what I do - I try fairly hard to make not-scary. But not all, and it depends on what you think is scary, too. Some people are freaked out by the fusor, since it does make some radiation but I don't allow any big doses to happen. All the high voltages on that are very carefully screened from possible human contact...