Precise Radiometry: Some Recent Aspects of Fruitful Interaction with Atomic Physics

Abstract

Modern radiometric analytics demands a complex consideration of nuclear and electron shell processes, if more pretentious aims are envisaged. As an example the small variation of decay rates of radionuclides presents possibilities for information on chemical situations of decaying atoms. In principle this phenomenon is well known since many years, but now the situation is such that, e.g. in 99mTc internal conversion, a full agreement of the difficult experiments and the respective theory was established. The secondary emission of X-rays as a consequence of high excitation of electron shells in combination with nuclear transitions supplies another example for a methodical progress of radiometry. Investigations on 51Cr as an electron capture nuclide have shown that chemically induced variations of the Kα to Kβ X-ray intensity ratio is at least qualitatively understood.