Title: X-ray spectroscopy Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - X-ray spectroscopy DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.X06718 Status: current Definition X-ray spectroscopy consists of three steps: (a) excitation to produce emission lines characteristic of the elements in the material, (b) measurement of their intensity, and (c) conversion of X-ray intensity to concentration by a calibration procedure which may include correction for matrix effects. Related Terms - X-ray intensity: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/X06714 - matrix effects: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/M03759 - spectroscopy: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/S05848 Source - PAC, 1980, 52, 2541. 'Nomenclature, Symbols, Units and their Usage in Spectrochemical Analysis—IV X-Ray Emission Spectroscopy' on page 2544 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac198052112541) Other Outputs - html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/X06718/html - json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/X06718/json - xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/X06718/xml Citation: Citation: 'X-ray spectroscopy' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.X06718 License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms. Collection: If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org . Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using. Accessed: 2026-07-24T09:48:09+00:00