Measuring Techniques for Compton, Rayleigh and Fluorescence Cross-Sections Excited by keV Photons : Potential Use for Various Applications

Abstract

Compton, Rayleigh and fluorescence cross-sections for low, medium and high Z atoms are measured at low photon energies (<100 keV) using an X-ray tube with secondary target. A new approach is developed to estimate the solid angle approximation and geometrical efficiency for a system with experimental arrangement using X-ray tube and secondary target as excitation source. Using this arrangement basic interaction cross-section measurements are performed in vacuum and reasonable monochromacy is achieved. Our motivation is mainly based on fundamental radiation interactions and radiology in mind. The present X-ray system considering the geometrical effects of the measuring system is more advantageous as far as the reduction of incoherently scattered background and improvement of monochroamcy is concerned. The variation of the solid angle is studied by changing the radius and length of the collimators towards and away from the source and sample. From these values the variation of the solid angle and geometrical efficiency is deduced and the optimum value is used for the experimental work. The experimental system is very simple in design, compact and economical. Experimental results based on these systems are compared with theoretical estimates and good agreement is observed in between them.