Dr. Tilo Reinert
University of North Texas

MeV Ion Beams for Quantitative Elemental Imaging

Ion beams are versatile research tools for particle, nuclear, and atomic physics, for material and life science research, and even applied to the humanities. Other than research, ion beams are used for high tech material characterization, environmental pollution monitoring, and also to cure cancer. The megavolt-class of accelerators, to which the accelerators in UNT's Physics Department belong, is mainly used for materials modification and analysis. Especially the sensitive elemental analysis is a large research and application field for those machines.

In this talk I will open a small window looking at what we have learned from quantitative elemental imaging: a) About the fixed negative charge density in brain and its implication for diffusion. b) About the interplay of the zinc containing metallothioneins and drug related mental disabilities. And c) about the efficacy of measures to improve metal uptake by plants. Finally I will give and outlook on quantitative elemental imaging in the 21st century with the example of an elemental brain atlas.