Atomic Number Of Target Material Research Articles

Investigation of Coulombic bremsstrahlung spectra of metallic targets for the photon energy region of 1–100 keV

In the present paper, the formation of bremsstrahlung spectra by ordinary bremsstrahlung (OB) and polarization bremsstrahlung (PB) in metallic targets by 35S beta particles has been investigated in the photon energy region of 1–100keV. From the experimental measurements and the theoretical results obtained from Elwert corrected (non-relativistic) Bethe Heitler (EBH) theory, modified Elwert factor (relativistic) (FmodBH) theories for OB and Avdonina and Pratt (FmodBH+PB) theory for total bremsstrahlung (BS) having the contribution of PB into OB, it has been found that the contribution of PB into BS in a target is limited to a low energy region only and also varies with the atomic number of target material. The FmodBH+PB theory is in agreement with the experimental results in low energy regions of the target, whereas at high energy region FmodBH is found to give better agreement. Further, the present experimental results indicate that the screening effects in the Coulombic bremsstrahlung process cannot be neglected in the high energy region, and the multiple scattering and secondary electron emissions effects in thick target are required to be taken into account in describing the bremsstrahlung process.

Kinetics of ion and prompt electron emission from laser-produced plasma

We investigated ion emission dynamics of laser-produced plasma from several elements, comprised of metals and non-metals (C, Al, Si, Cu, Mo, Ta, W), under vacuum conditions using a Faraday cup. The estimated ion flux for various targets studied showed a decreasing tendency with increasing atomic mass. For metals, the ion flux is found to be a function of sublimation energy. A comparison of temporal ion profiles of various materials showed only high-Z elements exhibited multiple structures in the ion time of flight profile indicated by the observation of higher peak kinetic energies, which were absent for low-Z element targets. The slower ions were seen regardless of the atomic number of target material propagated with a kinetic energy of 1–5 keV, while the fast ions observed in high-Z materials possessed significantly higher energies. A systematic study of plasma properties employing fast photography, time, and space resolved optical emission spectroscopy, and electron analysis showed that there existed different mechanisms for generating ions in laser ablation plumes. The origin of high kinetic energy ions is related to prompt electron emission from high-Z targets.

Photon albedo coefficients as functions of μ/Zeff parameter

This paper presents the results of the analyses of photon reflection from planar targets for normal photon incidence and for different shielding materials (water, concrete, aluminum, iron, and copper), in the range of the initial photon energies from 20 keV to 300 keV. Calculations of photon reflection parameters based on the results of Monte Carlo simulations of the photon transport have been performed using MCNP4C code. Integral reflection coefficients, presented as functions of the ratio of total cross-section of photons and effective atomic number of target material, show universal behaviour for all the analyzed shielding materials in the selected energy domain.

Z dependence of thick-target β-ray backscattering

Variation of β-ray backscattering with the atomic number of target material has been studied using thick targets of polythene, aluminum, iron, copper, zinc, tin, silver, tungsten, and lead for five β emitters, viz., 35S, 147Pm, 204Tl, 32P, and 90Sr-90Y. Effects of geometry and β-ray end-point energy have been investigated using a reflection geometry in which the geometry factors were varied by more than 40 and β-ray energy varied over a range 0.167–2.27 MeV. It is found that the mean value of the index of Z dependence of β-ray backscattering is 1.840.05 over these regions of geometry and energy. Deviations for soft β emitters have been confirmed as due to air absorption. The importance of these results in studies of two-component systems is emphasized.