A new method for determining the rate of energy loss of charged particles in matter

Abstract

The energy loss of charged particles, of incident energy of the order of MeV, in traversing matter and scattering at 90° is analysed for different target orientations. Computer simulations of the energy loss of alpha particles using the stopping power values according to the currently available tabulations indicate that for moderate film thicknesses the ratio of energy losses along the scattered and the incident trajectories is approximately proportional to the ratio of the thicknesses traversed. Hence the measured energy losses yield, in the first approximation, the ratio of average stopping powers along the two channels.