In 1971 GGU started to establish a modern laboratory for rock analysis based on X-ray fiuorescence spectrometry and a manual Siemens SRS sequence spectrometer, prepared for automation, was bought. It is difficult to imagine a modern X-ray spectrometer without automatic preselection of measuring parameters but the automation can be present in varying degrees and can follow different paths. For various reasons GGU chose an on-line computer control connected via interface to a Digital PDP-8E mini-computer. By this selection we have obtained an almost fully automatic instrument which has so far proved to be excellent both in terms of measuring accuracy and technical reliability.
X-ray fluorescence spectrometry at GGU