First results from an international round robin test of the reproducibility of hard x-ray XAFS measurements

Hard X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (XAFS) is a mature analytical method. Dedicated beamlines are available at every suitable synchrotron radiation source worldwide. In the past years, the technical development of bench-top XAFS devices has further widened the application of XAFS spectroscopy. Like any other analytical method, it is important to ensure the comparability of results from measurements at different facilities. Measurements on identical samples in different laboratories, so called round robin tests, are a valuable tool to test the comparability of analytical results. This paper describes first results from an international round robin test on the comparability and reproducibility of spectra of metal foils measured at several storage-ring and bench-top facilities around the world. The main purpose of the present round robin test is to rise the awareness that XAFS as an analytical tool requires quality assurance mechanisms similar to those that are routinely applied in analytical chemistry and related fields.