Handbook of X-ray data. By G. Zschornack. Pp. IX + 967. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2007. Price (hardback) EUR 213.95. ISBN 978-3-540-28618-9.

This sourcebook is intended as an X-ray data reference for scientists and engineers working in the field of energy- or wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectrometry and related fields of basic and applied research, technology, or process and quality controlling. In a concise and informative manner, the most important data connected with the emission of characteristic X-ray lines are tabulated for all elements up to Z = 95 (americium). This includes X-ray energies, emission rates and widths as well as level characteristics such as binding energies, fluorescence yields, level widths and absorption edges. The tabulated data are characterized and, in most cases, evaluated. Furthermore, all important processes and phenomena connected with the production, emission and detection of characteristic X-rays are discussed. This reference book addresses all researchers and practitioners working with X-ray radiation and fills a gap in the available literature. Contents: Part I: Atomic structure, X-ray physics and radiation detection; 1. X-ray physics and practice, 2. Physical fundamentals, 3. Energy and intensity measurements, 4. Data base; Part II: X-ray reference data; 5. X-ray emission lines and atomic level characteristics, 6. X-ray transition energies ordered by energy/wavelength, 7. K-shell intensity ratios and K-vacancy decay rates, 8. Atomic scattering factors, 9. Analytical approximation of atomic scattering factors, 10. Mass attenuation coefficients, 11. Fit parameters for the calculation of mass attenuation coefficients, 12. Atomic weights and isotope masses, 13. Parameters of stable isotopes, 14. Par­ameters of long-live radioactive isotopes, 15. Mean X-ray transition energies. 588 references.