Muhammad Afzal Nagrah SSO, CNS

Interaction

of radiations with matter

Charged particles interaction -ray interaction

Mechanisms

of interaction with matter Buildup of secondary radiations Attenuation/Absorption of primary radiations Examples calculation Quiz

There are the four basic interactions forces: 1. Gravitational 2. Electromagnetic 3. Nuclear strong 4. Nuclear weak

Passage

of radiation through matter depends on:

Type of radiation charged particles (e.g., electrons, protons, etc.) high energy photons or x-rays Energy of radiation (e.g., keV or MeV) Nature of matter being traversed (atomic number

and density)

Passage

of charged particles through

matter
Gradual loss of particles energy Energy transferred to nearby atoms and

molecules
Charged

particle interaction mechanisms

Ionization Excitation Bremsstrahlung

Excitation
Energy is transferred to an orbital electron, but not

enough to free it.

Electron is left in an excited state

and energy is dissipated in molecular vibrations, atomic emission of infrared, visible or uv radiation, etc.

Ionization
Interaction between charged particle and orbital

electron Energy transferred from passing particle to electron If E > ionization potential, electron is freed

Ionization potential for gases are in the range of 10-15 eV. Ejected electrons energetic enough to cause secondary ionizations are called rays

Bremsstrahlung
Some

particles will interact with the nucleus. The particle will be deflected by the strong electrical forces exerted on it by the nucleus. The particle is rapidly decelerated and loses energy in the collision. The energy appears as a photon of electromagnetic radiation.

Interaction

mechanisms Photoelectric effect Compton scattering Pair production Coherent (Rayleigh) scattering

1-

Photoelectric Effect

An atomic absorption process in which an atom

absorbs all the energy of an incident photon. Z is atomic number of the material, E is energy of the incident photon, and is the density of the material.

 Photoelectric

Effect and Buildup of Secondary Radiations

In case of photoelectric effect, the photon disappears after

transferring all of its energy to a bound electron, which gets ejected from the atom. When the vacancy left in the shell by the removed electron gets filled by an electron dropping into it from a higher energy level, the difference in energy between the two transition states may appear as a fluorescent photon. These photons are characteristically low in energy, but some may be capable of reaching the dose point inside or outside the shielding material. Ejected electron further may excite/ionize other atoms (fluorescent photons)

2-

Compton Scattering

Collision between a photon and a loosely

bound outer shell orbital electron. Interaction looks like a collision between the photon and a free electron.

 Compton

Scattering and Buildup of Secondary Radiations

Only a portion of the photon energy is transferred to

an electron, and a scattered photon moves away from the interaction site, often in a direction different from that of the original photon. This scattered photon may find its way to a dose point of interest inside or outside the attenuating material. OR further interaction with matter Vacancy left in the shell by the recoiled electron gets filled by an electron from a higher energy level, result in as a fluorescent photon.

 3-

Pair Production

Pair production occurs when a photon (E 1.022

MeV) interacts with the electric field of an atomic nucleus or charged particle. Photon energy is converted into an electron-positron pair and kinetic energy.
Buildup

of Secondary Radiations

Positron will eventually interact with a free electron

and produce a pair of 511 keV annihilation photons. These two gamma rays can escape or interact with matter through the Compton scattering or Photoelectric effect.

4-

Coherent or Rayleigh Scattering

Scattering interactions that occur between a

photon and an atom as a whole.

Because of the great mass of an atom very little

recoil energy is absorbed by the atom. The photon is therefore deflected with essentially no loss of energy.
Coherent scattering is only important at energies

<50 keV.

 Thus,

any of the common gamma interaction processes may result in secondary photons that have a finite probability of reaching the dose point. The extent to which such secondary photons add to the fluence or dose at the dose point is usually described through the use of an appropriate buildup factor.

Energy spectrum of incident -ray bean

Energy spectrum of -ray emerging from shield

Buildup of Secondary radiations

Eo

Eo

The buildup factor is a dimensionless quantity that represents the ratio of total flux (including the secondary photons) at a point to primary photon flux at the same point. where is the uncollided flux and b is the buildup flux. The buildup factor, B, accounts for the amount of forward scattering by the shield; B is a function of material and ray energy as well as geometry. Magnitudes of buildup factors vary widely, ranging from a minimum of 1.0 to very large values, depending on source and shield characteristics.

 Monodirectional beam of 2-MeV of intensity 106 rays/cm2-sec is incident

on a lead shield 10 cm thick. At the rear side of the shield calculate the:
Uncollided flux Buildup flux
For

lead, the linear attenuation coefficient at 2 MeV is 0.518 cm1.

 Uncollided

flux

o = 106 rays/cm2-sec a = 0.518 cm-1 x 10 cm = 5.18 o = 106 e-5.18 = 5.63x103 rays/cm2-sec

Buildup

flux

The buildup factor at 2 MeV for a = 5.18 See Table 10.1 from Lamarsh, Bm = 2.78

= 2.78 x 5.63x103 b =1.56 x104 rays/cm2-sec

 For

Point Isotropic Source

Unshielded Flux

Uncollided flux

Buildup flux

 First,

determine the unshielded flux 5 cm from a 100-mCi point source that emits a 0.5 MeV gamma ray for each decay. Second, if a 10-cm diameter, spherical lead shield encapsulates the point source, determine the uncollided gamma flux on the surface of the shield. For lead, the linear attenuation coefficient at 0.5 MeV is 1.64 cm1.

The unshielded flux at a radius of 5 cm from the point source is:

The uncollided flux on the surface of the Pb shield is:

Buildup flux The buildup factor at 0.5 MeV for R = 8.2 See Table 10.2 from Lamarsh, Bp = 2.108 = 2.108 x 3.235x103 b =6.819 x103 rays/cm2-sec

 When

a photon passes through a thickness of absorber material, the probability that it will experience an interaction (i.e., photoelectric, Compton scatter, or pair production) depends on the energy of the photon and on the composition and thickness of the absorber.

Under conditions of narrow beam geometry the transmission of a monoenergetic photon beam through an absorber is described by an exponential equation:

where I(0) is the initial beam intensity, I(x) is the beam intensity transmitted through a thickness x of absorber, and is the total linear attenuation coefficient of the absorber at the photon energy of interest.
The linear attenuation coefficient is expressed in units of cm-1.

 There

are three basic components to the linear attenuation coefficient: due to the photoelectric effect; due to Compton scattering; and due to pair production. The exponential equation can also be written as: + + = absorption + scattering

atten =

 Since

photon attenuation does not mean that all the photon energy is absorbed (e.g., consider Compton scattering in which only a fraction of the photon energy is liberated to an electron), it is necessary to introduce another quantitythe energy absorption coefficient, a. In comparing the photon attenuation versus absorption coefficient attenuation absorption

 Without

collimation, scattered photons cause artificially high counts to be measured, resulting in smaller measured values for the attenuation coefficients.

 Linear

attenuation coefficient l

depends on photon energy

depends on material composition depends on material density dimensions are 1/length (e.g., 1/cm, cm-1)

Mass

attenuation coefficient m

m = l /

( = density of material yielding l) does not depend on material density dimensions are length2/mass (e.g., cm2/g)
The

mean free path

which is the average distance that a photon moves

between interactions, is mfp = 1/.

 Half-value

thickness is the amount of material needed to attenuate a photon flux by 1/2 (attenuation factor = 0.5).

Tenth

value thickness is given by

 Values

for Lead and Water

 What

thickness of lead is required to attenuate 99% of 511 keV photons?

99% attenuated = 1% surviving Using the exponential attenuation formula

Alternatively, if the TVT is known (1.35 cm),

doubling the TVT results in two consecutive layers which each transmit 1/10 of photons, or a total transmission of 1/100 or 1%. 2 * 1.35 cm = 2.7 cm.

 What

fraction of 140 keV photons will escape unscattered from the middle of a 30 cm cylinder?
Medium water The photons must travel through 15 cm of water.

 Attenuation

coefficient depends on? Buildup factor depends on? Pair production is prominent at low E (t/f) l / is energy attenuation coefficient (t/f) A material having greater buildup factor and low attenuation/absorption is better for dose shielding (t/f) atten ab (t/f) Magnitudes of buildup factors vary widely, ranging from a minimum of 0.1 to 1 (t/f)