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    Interaction of Radiation With Matter

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    tarek el zayat
    1) Charged particles interact with matter through electrical forces, losing kinetic energy via excitation, ionization, and radiative losses. 2) The number of ion pairs produced per unit length of a charged particle's path is called specific ionization. Specific ionization increases with particle charge and decreases with velocity. 3) Neutrons interact with atomic nuclei, sometimes liberating charged particles or fragments that cause excitation or ionization. Neutrons may also be captured, converting atoms to different nuclides.

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    Interaction of Radiation With Matter

    Uploaded by

    tarek el zayat
    67 views34 pages
    1) Charged particles interact with matter through electrical forces, losing kinetic energy via excitation, ionization, and radiative losses. 2) The number of ion pairs produced per unit length of a charged particle's path is called specific ionization. Specific ionization increases with particle charge and decreases with velocity. 3) Neutrons interact with atomic nuclei, sometimes liberating charged particles or fragments that cause excitation or ionization. Neutrons may also be captured, converting atoms to different nuclides.

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    1) Charged particles interact with matter through electrical forces, losing kinetic energy via excitation, ionization, and radiative losses. 2) The number of ion pairs produced per unit length of a charged particle's path is called specific ionization. Specific ionization increases with particle charge and decreases with velocity. 3) Neutrons interact with atomic nuclei, sometimes liberating charged particles or fragments that cause excitation or ionization. Neutrons may also be captured, converting atoms to different nuclides.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    67 views34 pages

    Interaction of Radiation With Matter

    Uploaded by

    tarek el zayat
    1) Charged particles interact with matter through electrical forces, losing kinetic energy via excitation, ionization, and radiative losses. 2) The number of ion pairs produced per unit length of a charged particle's path is called specific ionization. Specific ionization increases with particle charge and decreases with velocity. 3) Neutrons interact with atomic nuclei, sometimes liberating charged particles or fragments that cause excitation or ionization. Neutrons may also be captured, converting atoms to different nuclides.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 34

    Interaction of Radiation with

    Matter I
    Particle interactions
    • Energetic charged particles interact with
    matter by electrical forces and lose kinetic
    energy via:
    – Excitation
    – Ionization
    – Radiative losses
    • ~ 70% of charged particle energy deposition
    leads to nonionizing excitation
    Specific Ionization
    • Number of primary and secondary ion pairs
    produced per unit length of charged
    particle’s path is called specific ionization
    – Expressed in ion pairs (IP)/mm
    • Increases with electrical charge of particle
    • Decreases with incident particle velocity
    Specific ionization for 7.69 MeV
    alpha particle from polonium 214
    Charged Particle Tracks
    • Electrons follow tortuous paths in matter as the
    result of multiple scattering events
    – Ionization track is sparse and nonuniform
    • Larger mass of heavy charged particle results in
    dense and usually linear ionization track
    • Path length is actual distance particle travels;
    range is actual depth of penetration in matter
    Path lengths vs. ranges
    Linear Energy Transfer
    • Amount of energy deposited per unit path length
    is called the linear energy transfer (LET)
    • Expressed in units of eV/cm
    • LET of a charged particle is proportional to the
    square of the charge and inversely proportional to
    its kinetic energy
    • High LET radiations (alpha particles, protons,
    etc.) are more damaging to tissue than low LET
    radiations (electrons, gamma and x-rays)
    Bremsstrahlung
    Bremsstrahlung
    • Probability of bremsstrahlung production
    per atom is proportional to the square of Z
    of the absorber
    • Energy emission via bremsstrahlung varies
    inversely with the square of the mass of the
    incident particle
    – Protons and alpha particles produce less than
    one-millionth the amount of bremsstrahlung
    radiation as electrons of the same energy
    Bremsstrahlung
    • Ratio of electron energy loss by bremsstrahlung
    production to that lost by excitation and ionization
    = EZ/820
    – E = kinetic energy of incident electron in MeV
    – Z = atomic number of the absorber
    • Bremsstrahlung x-ray production accounts for
    ~1% of energy loss when 100 keV electrons
    collide with a tungsten (Z = 74) target in an x-ray
    tube
    Neutron interactions
    • Neutrons are uncharged particles
    • They do not interact with electrons
    – Do not directly cause excitation or ionization
    • They do interact with atomic nuclei, sometimes
    liberating charged particles or nuclear fragments
    that can directly cause excitation or ionization
    • Neutrons may also be captured by atomic nuclei
    – Retention of the neutron converts the atom to a
    different nuclide (stable or radioactive)
    Neutron interaction
    X- and Gamma-Ray Interactions
    • Rayleigh scattering
    • Compton scattering
    • Photoelectric absorption
    • Pair production
    Rayleigh Scattering
    • Incident photon interacts with and excites the
    total atom as opposed to individual electrons
    • Occurs mainly with very low energy
    diagnostic x-rays, as used in mammography
    (15 to 30 keV)
    • Less than 5% of interactions in soft tissue
    above 70 keV; at most only 12% at ~30 keV
    Rayleigh Scattering
    Compton Scattering
    • Predominant interaction in the diagnostic
    energy range with soft tissue
    • Most likely to occur between photons and
    outer (“valence”) shell electrons
    • Electron ejected from the atom; photon
    scattered with reduction in energy
    • Binding energy comparatively small and
    can be ignored
    Compton Scattering

    E0  Esc  Ee 
    E0
    Esc 
    E0
    1 2
    (1  cos )
    m0 c
    Compton scatter probabilities
    • As incident photon energy increases, scattered
    photons and electrons are scattered more toward the
    forward direction
    • These photons are much more likely to be detected
    by the image receptor, reducing image contrast
    • Probability of interaction increases as incident
    photon energy increases; probability also depends on
    electron density
    – Number of electrons/gram fairly constant in tissue;
    probability of Compton scatter/unit mass independent of Z
    Relative Compton scatter
    probabilities
    Compton Scattering
    • Laws of conservation of energy and momentum
    place limits on both scattering angle and energy
    transfer
    • Maximal energy transfer to the Compton electron
    occurs with a 180-degree photon backscatter
    • Scattering angle for ejected electron cannot exceed
    90 degrees
    • Energy of the scattered electron is usually
    absorbed near the scattering site
    Compton Scattering
    • Incident photon energy must be substantially greater
    than the electron’s binding energy before a Compton
    interaction is likely to take place
    • Probability of a Compton interaction increases with
    increasing incident photon energy
    • Probability also depends on electron density (number
    of electrons/g  density)
    – With exception of hydrogen, total number of electrons/g
    fairly constant in tissue
    – Probability of Compton scatter per unit mass nearly
    independent of Z
    Photoelectric absorption
    • All of the incident photon energy is
    transferred to an electron, which is ejected
    from the atom
    • Kinetic energy of ejected photoelectron (Ec)
    is equal to incident photon energy (E0)
    minus the binding energy of the orbital
    electron (Eb)
    Ec = Eo - E b
    Photoelectric absorption (I-131)
    Photoelectric absorption
    • Incident photon energy must be greater than or
    equal to the binding energy of the ejected photon
    • Atom is ionized, with an inner shell vacancy
    • Electron cascade from outer to inner shells
    – Characteristic x-rays or Auger electrons
    • Probability of characteristic x-ray emission
    decreases as Z decreases
    – Does not occur frequently for diagnostic energy photon
    interactions in soft tissue
    Photoelectric absorption (I-131)
    Photoelectric absorption
    • Probability of photoelectric absorption per
    unit mass is approximately proportional to
    3 3
    Z /E
    • No additional nonprimary photons to
    degrade the image
    • Energy dependence explains, in part, why
    image contrast decreases with higher x-ray
    energies
    Photoelectric absorption
    • Although probability of photoelectric effect
    decreases with increasing photon energy, there is
    an exception
    • Graph of probability of photoelectric effect, as a
    function of photon energy, exhibits sharp
    discontinuities called absorption edges
    • Photon energy corresponding to an absorption
    edge is the binding energy of electrons in a
    particular shell or subshell
    Photoelectric mass attenuation
    coefficients
    Photoelectric absorption
    • At photon energies below 50 keV, photoelectric
    effect plays an important role in imaging soft
    tissue
    • Process can be used to amplify differences in
    attenuation between tissues with slightly different
    atomic numbers, improving image contrast
    • Photoelectric process predominates when lower
    energy photons interact with high Z materials
    (screen phosphors, radiographic constrast agents,
    bone)
    Percentage of Compton and
    photoelectric contributions
    Pair production
    • Can only occur when the energy of the
    photon exceeds 1.02 MeV
    • Photon interacts with electric field of the
    nucleus; energy transformed into an
    electron-positron pair
    • Of no consequence in diagnostic x-ray
    imaging because of high energies required
    Pair Production

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