[Ifeffit] Origin of terminology "self-absorption"

[Matthew Marcus]

It's definitely a misnomer.  I use "overabsorption" and encourage others to do so.  I suppose to track it down would require going
back over the seminal papers on the subject.
	mam

On 11/16/2010 10:19 AM, Scott Calvin wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> As some of you know, I'm currently working on a textbook on XAFS analysis. Because of that, I'm going to occasionally pose some questions for the list that may seem a bit random. I hope none of you mind me using the list in this way; the questions may seem to come out of left field, but I think they will still be of interest to many.
>
> With that said, here's my question for today:
>
> What is the origin of the use of "self-absorption" to describe the suppression of fine-structure observed in thick, concentrated samples measured in fluorescence? I understand the physics of the effect itself, my question is the curious wording. Compared to a thin concentrated sample, the effect might better be described as "saturation," while compared to a thick dilute sample, it's actually related to a lack of absorption by other elements.
>
> --Scott Calvin
> Faculty at Sarah Lawrence College
> Currently on sabbatical at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory
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