2nd Semester,

MSc (Radiological Physics), 2021

RP2.1 : Radiation Physics:

Interaction of Radiation with Matter
Lesson-1

Kalyanee Boruah
5 May, 2021
 Syllabus
Interaction of electromagnetic radiation with
matter
Exponential attenuation –
Thomson scattering –
Photoelectric and Compton process and energy
absorption –
Pair production –
Attenuation and mass energy absorption
coefficients –
Relative importance of various processes.
 Radiations
Radiations may be broadly classified into two
categories,
1. Charged particle radiation also called ionizing
radiation, interacts by coulomb interaction :
(a) Heavy (alpha, heavy ions, . . )
(b) Light (Electrons, muons, . .)
2. Uncharged radiation (non-ionizing) :
(a) Neutrons of different energies.
(b) Electromagnetic radiation (X-ray & -rays)
 Electromagnetic radiation
Electromagnetic radiations are photons classified as,
1. Gamma rays accompanying nuclear transition
2. Bremsstrahlung or continuous X-rays caused by
acceleration of electrons or charged particles.
3. Characteristic X-rays in atomic transitions.
4. Annihilation radiation by electron and positron.
5. Cherenkov radiation emitted by charged particles
with velocity greater than the phase velocity of light.
The quantum energy of any of these radiations can be
expressed as, E=h. Since photons are not subject
to Coulomb or nuclear forces, they are either totally
absorbed or scattered from the incident direction.
 Flux : Inverse square law
The strength of radiation can be characterized by
its flux (), which is generally defined as the
number of particles passing through a unit area
per unit time. Irrespective of the type of source,
this flux decreases as one moves away from the
source. This decrease in flux depends on the
type of source and the type of radiation.
The inverse square law, which is based on
geometric considerations alone, characterizes
this change. It states that the radiation flux is
inversely proportional to the distance squared
from the point source, that is  1/r2.
Inverse square law is a consequence of the isotropic
nature of a point source because such a source is
expected to radiate equally in all directions.
Since the flux is a measure of the amount of
radiation passing through an area therefore it
should vary according to how the area varies with
distance from the source.
Now, we know that the surface area around a point
is given by 4πr2 , which means that the area varies
as r2 . Hence we conclude that the flux, which
represents the amount of radiation passing
through a unit area is proportional to the inverse of
the square of the distance or as 1/r 2 .
Note :
1. Inverse square law applies to only point sources.
the notion of a point source is relative to the
distance from the source.
2. The medium through which the radiation travels
should neither be scattering nor absorbing.
3. The inverse square law is therefore applied only in
vacuum or low pressure gaseous environments,
such as air under atmospheric conditions.
4. Inverse square law plays an important role in
radiation protection, as it sets a minimum distance
a radiation worker must retain from a source to
minimize the possibility of radiation damage.
The photons which pass straight through an absorber
of thickness 'x', are those which have not suffered
any interactions at all. They therefore retain their
original energy. The total number of photons is,
however, reduced by the number which have
interacted. The attenuation suffered by a photon
beam can be shown, to be exponential with
respect to the thickness, i.e.,
I(x) = Io exp(-x) - - - - (1)
Where, Io = incident beam intensity;
x = thickness of absorber;
 linear attenuation coefficient.
I(x) = Residual intensity of unaffected
primary photons
 Cross section
A
When a particle is incident
normally on a thin sheet of N
material of thickness ‘x’,
containing ‘n’ target nuclei per
unit volume, with which it can dx
have reaction or scattering,
then the probability (p) of a
reaction is proportional to the
number of target nuclei per unit
area in the sheet, i.e,
N0
p  n.x  p = nx - - - - (2) N(x)

where the proportionality

constant  is called the x
scattering cross section.
Each target nucleus is supposed to possess an effective
area .
If the incident beam contains N particles striking a thin
sheet of area A and thickness dx in 1 sec, then,
Total number of target nuclei hit by the incident beam =
nAdx
Total effective target area for scattering = nAdx
Probability of scattering =(effective target area)/
(total target area hit by
beam)
 p = nAdx / A = ndx - - - - (3)
If dN is the number of particles scattered per sec,
Then, p = -(dN/N) = ndx - - - - (4)
Considering a thickness ‘X’, if number of particles
incident at x=0 is N0, and if N(X) is the number of
particles travelling thickness X without interaction, i,e.,
at x=X, then we have from eq.(4),
N(X) X
 (-dN/N) =  ndx
No 0

 ln(N(X)/N0) = - nX

 N(X) = N0 exp(-nX)- - - - (5)
If incident intensity is denoted by I0 and intensity after
crossing thickness X by I(X), then
I(X) = I0 exp(-nX) = I0 exp(-X) - - - - (6)
The quantity n =  is called the attenuation
coefficient.
 Mean Free Path

From eq(5), the probability of surviving a distance X

without any interaction is
N(X) / N0 = exp(-nX) = exp(-X)- - - - (7)
Therefore, Mean Free Path (mfp, distance travelled
without any collision or interaction) is calculated as,
X X
=  x.exp(-nx)dx /  exp(-nx)dx
0 0

= 1/nx = 1/ - - - - - - - - (8)

 Numerical problems
1. Calculate the attenuation co-efficient and thickness of
113Cd required to reduce intensity of the neutron beam to

20% of its original value taking the density of Cd to be 8.67

g/cm3 and its scattering cross section for neutrons to be
20800 barns.
2. The total absorption cross section for gamma rays in Pb
is 20 barns. Find the thickness of Pb sheet required to
reduce the intensity of gamma rays to 1/6. [given, density
of Pb is 11.3 g/cm3, molecular weight is 207.19].
3. The capture cross section of 59Co for thermal neutrons
(energy 0.025 eV) is 37 barns. What percentage of a beam
of thermal neutrons will penetrate a 2.0 mm sheet of 59Co ?
[density of Co = 8.9x103 kg/m 3].
 Interactions of Gamma Rays in Matter

• Photons can primarily interact with material in three

different ways:
1.Photoelectric effect (100keVionization energy)
  + atom atom+ + e- .
2. Compton scattering (~ 1 MeV),
 + e-  + e- .
3. Pair production ( >> 1 MeV).
 + nucleus e+ + e- + nucleus.
 Photoelectric Effect :
In this interaction the photon ejects an electron from an
atom (generally from the K or L shells). The photon is
completely absorbed and all its energy is transferred to
the atomic electron. The atom then emits characteristic
X–rays and Auger electrons as it returns to normal state.
The energy of the outgoing electron is,
E = h – B.E.
where B.E. is the binding energy of the electron.
•Since a free electron cannot absorb a photon and also
conserve momentum, the photoelectric effect always
occurs on bound electrons with the nucleus absorbing
the recoil momentum.
If the K-shell electron is knocked off by the
incident photon, another electron from a higher
energy level may fill the gap. This would result
in the emission of a photon with an energy
equal to the difference of the two energy levels.
This photon is generally in the x-ray region of
electromagnetic spectrum and is called
fluorescence photon.
An x-ray photon emitted as a consequence of
photoelectric effect can also knock off another
orbital electron provided its energy is equal to
the binding energy of that electron. This electron
is called Auger electron.
Why photoelectric effect is not possible with free electron
? Because a free electron cannot absorb a photon and
also conserve momentum.
Let us assume that the electron is initially at rest.
Incident photon has KE h and momentum h/c. After
photoelectric effect, the incident photon is completely
absorbed and the electron moves with KE (½)mv2 and
momentum mv.
Conservation of momentum, h/c + 0 = mv
Conservation of energy, h + 0 = (½)mv2
 v = 2c, which is not possible !
So, photoelectric effect always occurs on bound
electrons with the nucleus absorbing the recoil
momentum.
 Calculated photoelectric cross section for lead

Calculated photoelectric cross section for lead

In the fig showing a typical photoelectric cross
section as a function of incident photon energy, it
can be seen that, at energies above the highest
electron binding energy of the atom (the K shell),
the cross section is relatively small but increases
rapidly as the K-shell energy is approached.
Just after this point, the cross section drops
drastically since the K-electrons are no longer
available for the photoelectric effect. This drop is
known as the K absorption edge. Below this
energy, the cross section rises once again and
dips as the L, M, levels, etc. are passed. These
are known respectively as the L-absorption
edges, M-absorption edge, etc.
The cross section for photoelectric interaction has
a strong Z dependence, that is, the probability of
photoelectric effect increases rapidly with
atomic number of the target atom. The
photoelectric effect is the dominant mode of
interaction of the gamma rays of energy less
than 100 keV. The energy dependence of the
cross section is approximately given by

where n lies between 4 and 5. This relation suggests

that the probability of photoelectric effect decreases
sharply with higher incident photon energies.
 Compton Scattering
Compton scattering is the elastic collision between a
photon and an electron. Here, the gamma ray of
energy h scatters off of a loosely bound or a free
electron and loses only part of its energy. The electron
recoils with kinematic energy T in one direction and the
gamma goes off in another direction with a reduced
energy h. In matter, the electrons are bound;
however, if the photon energy is high with respect to
the binding energy, this latter energy can be ignored
and the electrons can be considered as essentially
free.
This is a process that can only be understood from the
point of view of quantum mechanics.
Compton scattering of an incident photon, with the photon
scattered at an angle φ; the Compton electron is ejected at
an angle θ wrt the direction of the incident photon.
A photon behaves as a particle with an energy h
and an impulse momentum h /c. The electron
recoils with kinematic energy T and the gamma
is scattered at an angle  with a reduced energy
h ’. Applying energy and momentum
conservation, we get,
There are two extreme cases,
1.θ ∼= 0, the scattered photon retains all of its
energy and the recoil electron gains no energy.
2.θ = π, the incident gamma-ray is backscattered
and the recoil electron moves along the
direction of incidence. This case is the case with
the maximum energy transfer between the
incoming gamma-ray and the electron.
Energy distribution of Compton recoil electrons. The sharp drop
at the maximum recoil energy is known as the Compton edge.
 Pair Production
The process of pair production involves the
transformation of a photon into an electron-
positron pair. This occurs when the gamma-ray
is in the intense electric field near the nuclei of
the absorbing material. The presence of a third
body is necessary to conserve momentum. In
order to create the pair, the photon must have
at least an energy of 1.022 MeV [the mass of
2
the electron-positron pair, 2m0c ].Therefore,
the conservation of kinetic energies gives
Pair production interaction of a high-energy photon
near a nucleus.
Pair production cross section in lead
 Thompson Scattering
Thompson scattering is an elastic scattering process
between a free electron and a photon of low energy. By
low energy we mean the energy (< electron rest mass
energy) at which the quantum effects are not significant.
The differential and total cross sections for Thompson
scattering are given by

where θ is the photon scattering angle with respect to its

original direction of motion and r e is the classical
electron radius.
 Rayleigh scattering
Rayleigh scattering is an elastic scattering of photons by
atoms as a whole. In this process, all the electrons in
the atom participate in a coherent manner. For this
reason it is also called coherent scattering. The cross
section for this process is inversely proportional to the
fourth power of the wavelength of the incident radiation
In both Thompson and Rayleigh scattering processes,
the scattering is characterized by the fact that no
energy is transferred to the medium. The atoms are
neither excited nor ionized and only the direction of the
photon is changed. At the relatively high energies of x-
rays and y-rays, Thomson and Rayleigh scattering are
very small and for most purposes can be neglected.