Low-Energy Monte Carlo and W-Values

Abstract

Electrons in the low-energy range of about 1 keV or less play an important role in many fields of radiation research for two reasons: firstly, they are created in large numbers during the passage of all kinds of ionizing radiation through matter, and secondly, they have a linear energy transfer comparable to that of low-energy protons and a-particles, and accordingly they are responsible for the greater part of radiation damage observable in any material. A detailed understanding of the action of low-energy electrons in matter therefore is required in many contexts. In the fields of dosimetry, for example, the determination of the absorbed dose in water or the air kerma is great practical importance, but in most experiments only the amount of ionization produced by secondary electrons within the sensitive volume of a dosimeter can be measured. The results of ionization measurements therefore must converted to quantities based on energy absorption or energy transfer, either by calibration or numerically using an appropriate conversion factor. The most frequently used conversion factor is the so-called W-value, which is the mean energy required to produce an ion pair upon complete slowing down of a charged particle. Its relation to the primary particle kinetic energy T, and to the mean n umber N i of ionizations produced (ionization yield), is given by