MEASUREMENT OF K-SHELL JUMP RATIOS AND JUMP FACTORS FOR PLATINUM AND LEAD BY USING 2-GEOMETRICAL CONFIGURATION AND

A WEAK GAMMA SOURCE

L. Francis Maria Anand, S. B. Gudennavar* and S. G. Bubbly
Department of Physics, Christ University, Bangalore-560 029, Karantaka. * Correspondence: shivappa.b.gudennavar@christuniversity.in

Abstract - ISBN 978-93-81104-23-1 NSNMRN-2012 (SEP 12-14) OOTY

The article presents a simple method of measuring K- shell absorption jump ratios and jump factors for elements and compounds in the field of x-ray spectroscopy. The K- shell jump ratios and jump factors for Platinum and Lead are measured by adopting 2-geometrical configuration and a weak gamma source. The K x-ray photons are excited in the targets using 123.6 keV weighted average energy gamma photons from a weak 57Co radioactive source and the fluorescent K x-ray photons are detected using low energy HPGe x-ray detector coupled to a 16k multichannel analyser. The total atomic attenuation cross section for the elements is measured experimentally from the incident and the transmitted spectra whereas the K x-ray intensity ratios from x-ray fluorescent spectrum. The total atomic scattering cross sections are calculated using WinXcom software. The Kshell jump factor and jump ratio are computed using the measured K x-ray intensity ratios and total atomic attenuation cross section, and the calculated K x-ray production cross section and total atomic scattering cross sections. The computed values of K- shell jump factor and jump ratio for platinum and lead are compared with the theoretical values and others experimental data, and we found a good agreement between them. Thus, from the present study we conclude that our 2- geometrical configuration method with weak gamma source can be an alternative simple method to measure various atomic parameters in the field of x-ray spectroscopy.
Keywords: 2-geometrical configuration, total atomic absorption cross section, intensity ratios, jump ratio, jump factor.

1. Introduction K x-ray intensity ratios, the K-shell absorption jump factors and rK, jump ratios are of great significance in the field of interaction of gamma-rays and x-rays with matter [1]. They too find applications in the other areas such as medical physics and material science [2]. Several researchers have adopted various methods to measure these parameters, namely; the gamma ray attenuation method [3], the Compton peak attenuation method [4-6], the energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence method (EDXRF) [7-9] and the bremsstrahlung transmission method [10]. These methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, the gamma ray attenuation method requires many monoenergetic gamma sources and thin foils of given element, while the EDXRF method requires strong radioactive sources of the order 100mCi or more. For details refer the research article by Bennal and Badiger [1]. In the present work, we measure these parameters for
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platinum and lead using a simple method proposed by Gudennavar et al. [11] to measure K x-ray fluorescence parameters, which employs a weak gamma source and a 2-geometrical configuration. 2. Theory The total atomic attenuation cross section for gamma photons in a material target of thickness t is given by

(1) where A is the atomic weight of the target element, N0 is the Avogadro number, I0 is intensity of incident gamma photons and It is the transmitted intensity. The plot of t versus photon energy gives a saw-tooth curve around the binding energy of the Kshell of the target atom, which has three regions: a lower energy branch, a sudden increase in the K-shell binding energy and an upper energy branch. The lower energy branch corresponds to the total atomic photoelectric cross section due to L-, M-

and higher shells. The upper energy branch corresponds to the total atomic photoelectric cross section due to K-, L-, M- and higher shells. The sudden rise is essentially due to the onset of the K-shell photoelectric cross section. The ratio of the absorption cross section at the upper energy branch and that at lower energy branch gives the K-shell jump ratio, rK, and is given by [12] (2) where t is the total absorption cross section and K, L, M are the photoelectric absorption cross sections for the K-, L-, M-shells respectively. The K-shell absorption jump factor, JK, is related to the K-shell jump ratio, rK, and is defined as the probability that an electron is ejected from the of K-shell of the target element other than any other shells, (3) It must be noted that the jump factors, JK, can also be determined if we measure the K x-ray parameters such as K x-ray fluorescence yield, K x-ray production cross section and K to K x-ray intensity ratio using the relation [7],

(5) where i = K and j = K, and are the measured K x-ray intensities of type i and j respectively, i and j are the efficiencies of the detector for the K x-ray of type i and j respectively, i and j are the selfabsorption correction factors for the K xray of type i and type j respectively in the target material and are calculated using the eqn. (6), exp(-xiwtw) and exp(-xjwtw) are the window attenuation correction factors for the K x-ray of type i and j respectively; here xiw and xjw are the mass attenuation coefficients for the K x-ray of type i and j in the detector window of thickness tw. Taking into account the isotropic emission of K x-rays and the fact that we are measuring the intensity of x-ray photons emerging from the target in all the forward directions, that is, emitting into a solid angle of 2 sr., we use the correction factor without involving the scattering angles: 1 - exp(-( i + e )t ) = (6) ( i + e )t where i and e are the mass attenuation coefficients of the incident and emitted K x-ray photons respectively in the target and are computed using WinXcom software [13]. The total number of K x-ray photons of given type (i = K and K) emitted from the target in all directions is given by 2 I i' Ii = (7) x exp( xw t w ) where I i' is the measured intensity of K xray of type i. 3. Experimental The Experimental setup adopted in the present investigation is shown in Fig. 1. The gamma photons of energy 123.6 keV, i.e. the weighted average of 122 and 136 keV, from 57Co source (~104 Bq) are used
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(4) where K is K x-ray production cross section, t is the total atomic attenuation cross section, ts is the (coherent + incoherent) atomic scattering cross section, IK/IK is the intensity ratio of the K and K x-rays at photon energy E and K is the K-shell fluorescence yield of the target atom. The K x-ray intensity ratios are the ratios of the intensities of K to K. The ratio of the intensity of the characteristic x-ray of type i to type j is given by

to produce the K x-rays in the target and these x-rays are detected with a HPGe detector (active area 500 mm2, 10 mm thickness, Be window of thickness 0.6 mm) connected to a DSA-1000 (a built-in amplifier and 16k MCA). The energy resolution of the detector is 200 eV at 5.9 keV and the efficiency is nearly 100% for 3-500 keV. The spectrometer is calibrated using various gamma sources. The target materials are pure elements procured in the form of thin foils from Alfa Aesar A Johnson Matthey Company UK.

3.2 Measurement of K x-ray intensities By subtracting the source spectrum plus background from the transmitted

Fig. 2. Source plus background spectrum

Fig. 1. Experimental arrangement. 3.1 Measurement of total attenuation cross section atomic Fig. 3. Transmitted spectrum plus background spectrum plus background, we get a clean fluorescence K x-ray spectrum that corresponds to the target element under investigation. The K x-ray fluorescence spectrum for platinum is shown in Fig. 4. The area under each peak gives I i' , the measured intensity of K x-ray of type i (where i = K and K); which is corrected for self-attenuation in the target ( factor), attenuation in the window and efficiency of the detector. The K x-ray production cross section for a given element is calculated using the relation, (8) where fK is the fractional emission rate and is given as, fK = (1+IK/IK)-1. The K values are taken from Hubbell [14] and K
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The incident source spectrum (source plus background spectrum) was acquired for 2400s by placing just the weak 57Co source on the window of the detector. The intensity of 122 and 136 keV was carefully estimated from the background corrected source spectrum (Fig. 2) and the two together give I0. Now by sandwiching the respective target between the source and the detectors window, the transmitted spectrum (transmitted spectrum plus background) is obtained for the same interval of time (Fig. 3). The transmitted intensity It is estimated for the same 122 and 136 keV photons from the the transmitted spectrum. Knowing I0 and It, the total atomic attenuation cross section t for gamma photons of energy 123.6 keV in a target of thickness t is calculated using eqn. (1). The total atomic scattering cross section t is calculated using WinXcom software [13].

values at 123.6 keV are taken from Scofield [15].

values) From the table, we see that the measured values of K x-ray intensity ratios for platinum and lead agree well with theoretical and others values. While the measured values of K jump ratios and jump factors are systematically lower than the theoretical and others values. This may be due to the uncertainty in the estimation of t, which are systematically higher than the theoretical values. References
[1] Bennal A. S. and Badiger N. M., 2007. J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 40, 2189-2199. [2] Veigele W. M. J. 1973. At. Data Tables 5, 51. [3] Mallikarjuna M. L., Appaji Gowda S. B., Gowda R. and Umesh T. K. 2002. Radiat. Phys. Chem. 65, 217. [4] Ayala A. P. and Mainardi R. T. 1996. Radiat. Phys. Chem. 47, 177. [5] Polat R., Orchan I. and Budak G. 2004. Anal. Chem. Acta 505, 307. [6] Budak G. and Polat R. 2004. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 88, 525. [7] Ertugrul M., Karabulut A. and Budak G. 2002. Radiat. Phys. Chem. 64, 1. [8] Budak G., Karabulut A. and Erturul M., 2003. Radiat. Meas. 37, 103-107. [9] Polat R., Budak G., Gurul A., Karabulut A and Ertugrul M. 2005. Radiat. Meas. 39, 409. [10] Nayak S. V. and Badiger N. M. 2006. J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 39, 2893-2900. [11] Gudennavar S. B., Badiger N. M., Thontadarya S. R. and Hanumaih B. 2003. Radiat. Phys. Chem. 68, 721. [12] Tertian R. and Claisse F. 1982. Camelot Press, Southampton, UK, p.20. [13] Gerward L., Guilbert N., Bjorn Jensen K. and Levring H., 2001. Radiat. Phys. Chem. 60, 23. [14] Hubbell J. H., 1989. NISTIR. 89. [15] Scofield J. H., 1973. Laboratory Report UCRL-51326. [16] Berger M. J., Hubbell J. H. and Seltzer S. M., Chang J., Coursey J. S., Sukumar R. and Zucker D. S., 2005. XCOM: Photon Cross Section Database (version 1.3). National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD. [17] Kaya N., Apaydin G. and Tirasolu E., 2011. Radiat. Phys. Chem. 80, 677. [18] Cengiz E., Traolu E., Apaydn G., Aylikci V., Kp Aylikci N. and Aksoy C., 2011. Radiat. Phys. Chem. 80(3), 328.

Fig. 4. K x-ray fluorescence spectrum of platinum 4. Results, Discussion and conclusions The measured values of K x-ray intensity ratios, K shell jump ratios and jump factors determined for platinum and lead are presented in Table 1. These values are compared with the theoretical and others experimental values in the same table. Table 1. Measured values of K x-ray intensity ratios, jump ratios and jump factors for platinum and lead K XRF Platinum Lead Parameters (Z = 78) (Z = 82) 0.9593 [14] 0.9634 [14] K t (Exptl.) 991 1138 t (Theor) 964 [16] 1120 [16] K using 527.68 621.02 eqn (8) IK/IK 0.2700.005 0.2800.002 (Exptl) IK/IK 0.263 [15] 0.270 [15] (Theor) IK/IK 0.28220.007 (Others [19] 0.259 [18] values) 0.2750.021 [20] rK (Exptl.) 4.24 4.61 rK (Theor) 4.95 [16] 4.74 [16] rK (Others 4.63 [17] 5.11 [17] values) JK (Exptl.) 0.764 0.778 JK (Theor) 0.798 [16] 0.789 [16] JK (Others 0.784 [17] 0.804 [17]
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[19] Ertural B., Apaydin G., Cevik U., Erturul M. and Kobya A. I., 2007. Radiat. Phys. Chem. 76, 15. [20] Durak R. and Ozdemir Y., 1998. J. Phys. B., 31, 3575.