Characteristic radiation is used extensively in most high-accuracy x-ray experiments as a standard for calibration, both in laboratory physics and in astrophysics. $K\alpha$ and $K\beta$ radiations have complex asymmetric structure in their spectral profiles, especially for transition metals. Instrumental broadening in x-ray experiments shifts peak energies by small but significant amounts, especially for critical investigations. The spectral profiles must include an account of instrumental broadening so as to be able to transfer the calibration between experiments. We present a transferable characterization of the vanadium $K\beta$ spectral profile, using high-accuracy laboratory experiments. The peak energy of vanadium $K{\beta }_1$ is then found to be $5426.962\pm 0.015$ eV. This result decreases the uncertainty by a factor of 4.7 compared with Bearden and Burr [Rev. Mod. Phys. 39, 125 (1967)]. Characterization of the profile also permits an accurate and transferable standard and methodology. In the Supplemental Material we present the full profile with uncertainties for use in further analysis using the methodology presented.

• Received 23 December 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.87.022512