Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, Fall 2020

Interaction of Charged Particles with

Matter

Fall, 2020

Kyoung-Jae Chung

Department of Nuclear Engineering

Seoul National University
 Introduction

 Particulate or wave  Energy loss in air

 Charged or neutral  ~0.25 keV/mm for 𝛽𝛽
 ~100 keV/mm for 𝛼𝛼

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 Introduction

 Radiation emitted by radioactive nuclides, both inside and outside our bodies,
interacts with our tissues.
 Photons (EM waves) are far more abundant than matter in our universe; for
every nucleon there are about 109 photons.
 Cosmic rays and the subatomic debris they create during interactions in the
atmosphere also impinge on us (e.g. ~109 neutrinos/cm2·s).
 For radiation to produce biological damage, it must first interact with the tissue
and ionize cellular atoms, which, in turn, alter molecular bonds and change the
chemistry of the cells. Likewise, for radiation to produce damage in structural
and electrical materials, it must cause interactions that disrupt crystalline and
molecular bonds.
 Such radiation must be capable of creating ion-electron pairs and is termed
ionizing radiation (directly ionizing or indirectly ionizing).
 We will study how the ionizing radiations interact with matter. Particular
emphasis is given to how the radiations are attenuated as they pass through a
medium, and to quantify the rate at which they interact and transfer energy to the
medium.

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 General aspects of charged particles interaction with matter

 A charged particle is surrounded by its Coulomb

electric field that interacts with orbital electrons
and the nucleus of all atoms it encounters, as it
penetrates into matter.
 Charged particle interactions with orbital
electrons of the absorber result in collision loss
Alpha particle (collisional stopping power), interactions with
nuclei of the absorber result in radiation loss
(radiation stopping power).

Beta particle

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 General aspects of stopping power

 Linear stopping power (−𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑/𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑): the rate of energy loss per unit of path length
(typically expressed in MeV cm-1) by a charged particle in an absorbing medium.
It is also referred to as the linear energy transfer (LET) of the particle (usually
expressed as keV µm-1 in water.
 Mass stopping power (−𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑/𝜌𝜌𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑): linear stopping power divided by the mass
density of the absorber (typically expressed in MeV·cm2/g).

 Radiation stopping power (also called nuclear stopping power): Only light
charged particles (electrons and positrons) experience appreciable energy loss
through these interactions that are usually referred to as bremsstrahlung
interactions. For heavy charged particles (protons, α-particles, etc.) the radiation
(bremsstrahlung) loss is negligible in comparison with the collision loss.
 Collision stopping power (also called ionization or electronic stopping power):
Both heavy and light charged particles experience these interactions that result
in energy transfer from the charged particle to orbital electrons through impact
excitation and ionization of absorber atoms.

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 Energy-loss mechanism of heavy charged particles

 A heavy charged particle traversing matter loses energy primarily through the
ionization and excitation of atoms. (Except at low velocities, a heavy charged
particle loses a negligible amount of energy in nuclear collisions.)
 The moving charged particle exerts electromagnetic forces on atomic electrons
and imparts energy to them.
 The energy transferred may be sufficient to knock an electron out of an atom
and thus ionize it, or it may leave the atom in an excited, non-ionized state.
 A heavy charged particle can transfer only a small fraction of its energy in a
single electronic collision. Its deflection in the collision is negligible. Thus, a
heavy charged particle travels an almost straight path through matter, losing
energy almost continuously in small amounts through collisions with atomic
electrons, leaving ionized and excited atoms in its wake.
 Occasionally, however, as observed in Rutherford’s experiments with alpha-
particle scattering from a gold foil, a heavy charged particle will undergo a
substantial deflection due to elastic scattering from an atomic nucleus.

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 Maximum energy transfer in a single collision

 Energy and momentum conservation

 The maximum energy transfer

 The exact relativistic expression

Heavy charged particle with speed V Free electron initially at rest

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 Maximum energy transfer in a single collision

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 Single-collision energy loss spectra

 The ordinate gives the probability density W(Q) per eV, such that W(Q)dQ is the
probability that a given collision will result in an energy loss between Q and Q +
dQ, with Q expressed in eV.

Slow particle: long interaction time

Fast particles: energy-loss

spectrum is similar in the
energy range of 10 ~ 70 eV

Minimum threshold energy

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 Stopping power

 For a given type of charged particle at a given energy, the stopping power is
given by the product of (1) the linear attenuation coefficient (𝜇𝜇, the probability of
electronic collision per unit distance of travel) and (2) the average energy loss
per collision (𝑄𝑄avg ).

1
𝜆𝜆 = = 2.4 nm
𝜇𝜇

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 Semiclassical calculation of stopping power

 In 1913, Bohr derived an explicit formula giving the stopping power for heavy
charged particles. He calculated the energy loss of a heavy particle in a collision
with an electron at a given distance of passing and then averaged over all
possible distances and energy losses.

 The total momentum imparted to the electron

in the collision is

Impact parameter

 The momentum transferred to the electron in the collision:

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 Semiclassical calculation of stopping power

 The energy transferred to the electron in the collision:

 In traversing a distance d𝑥𝑥 in a medium having a

uniform density of 𝑛𝑛 electrons per unit volume, the
heavy particle encounters 2𝜋𝜋𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 d𝑏𝑏 d𝑥𝑥 electrons at
impact parameters between 𝑏𝑏 and 𝑏𝑏 + d𝑏𝑏.
 The energy lost to these electrons per unit distance
traveled is therefore 2𝜋𝜋𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛d𝑏𝑏.

 The total linear rate of energy loss is found by integration over all possible
energy loses:

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 Semiclassical calculation of stopping power

 Maximum possible energy transfer (𝑄𝑄max ) ~ the energy transfer by head-on

collision (2𝑚𝑚𝑉𝑉 2 ).
 Minimum possible energy transfer (𝑄𝑄min ) ~ the mean excitation energy of the
medium (𝐼𝐼).
 For a given atom, its mean excitation energy is always larger than the ionization
energy of the atom, since 𝐼𝐼 accounts for all possible atomic ionizations as well as
atomic excitations, while the atomic ionization energy pertains to the energy
required to remove the least bound atomic electron (i.e., valence electron in the
outer shell).

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 Semiclassical formula for stopping power

 In the logarithm

1/2 1/2
𝑏𝑏max 𝑄𝑄max 2𝑚𝑚𝑉𝑉 2
= =
𝑏𝑏min 𝑄𝑄min 𝐼𝐼

 The final form of semiclassical stopping power:

d𝐸𝐸 2𝜋𝜋𝑘𝑘02 𝑧𝑧 2 𝑒𝑒 4 𝑛𝑛 2𝑚𝑚𝑉𝑉 2

𝑆𝑆 Bohr =− = ln No. of electrons per unit volume
d𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚𝑉𝑉 2 𝐼𝐼
No. of atoms 𝑁𝑁𝐴𝐴
 Mass stopping power: 𝑛𝑛 = 𝑍𝑍 = 𝑍𝑍 𝜌𝜌
volume 𝐴𝐴

1 d𝐸𝐸 2𝜋𝜋𝑘𝑘02 𝑧𝑧 2 𝑒𝑒 4 𝑍𝑍𝑁𝑁𝐴𝐴 2𝑚𝑚𝑉𝑉 2

𝑆𝑆𝜌𝜌Bohr =− = ln
𝜌𝜌 d𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚𝑉𝑉 2 𝐴𝐴 𝐼𝐼

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 Bethe formula for stopping power

 Using relativistic quantum mechanics, Bethe derived the following expression for
the stopping power of a uniform medium for a heavy charged particle:

Bethe
d𝐸𝐸 4𝜋𝜋𝑘𝑘02 𝑧𝑧 2 𝑒𝑒 4 𝑛𝑛 2𝑚𝑚𝑐𝑐 2 𝛽𝛽2
𝑆𝑆 =− = 2 2 ln 2
− 𝛽𝛽 2
d𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚𝑐𝑐 𝛽𝛽 𝐼𝐼(1 − 𝛽𝛽 )

 Mass stopping power

1 d𝐸𝐸 4𝜋𝜋𝑘𝑘02 𝑧𝑧 2 𝑒𝑒 4 𝑍𝑍𝑁𝑁𝐴𝐴 2𝑚𝑚𝑐𝑐 2 𝛽𝛽2 Not valid at low energy

𝑆𝑆𝜌𝜌Bethe =− = 2 2
ln 2
− 𝛽𝛽 2
𝜌𝜌 d𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚𝑐𝑐 𝛽𝛽 𝐴𝐴 𝐼𝐼(1 − 𝛽𝛽 )

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 Energy-loss mechanism of electrons or positrons

 We treat electron and positron energy-loss processes together, referring to both

simply as “electrons” or “beta particles.” Their stopping powers and ranges are
virtually the same, except at low energies.
 Like heavy charged particles, beta particles can excite and ionize atoms. In
addition, they can also radiate energy by bremsstrahlung. The radiative
contribution to the stopping power becomes important only at high energies.
water

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 Collisional stopping power

 The collisional stopping power for beta particles is different from that of heavy
charged particles because of two physical factors:
1) A beta particle can lose a large fraction of its energy in a single collision
with an atomic electron, which has equal mass.
2) A β– particle is identical to the atomic electron with which it collides and a β+
is the electron’s antiparticle.
 The collisional stopping-power formulas for electrons and positrons

𝑇𝑇
𝜏𝜏 =
𝑚𝑚𝑐𝑐 2

For electrons

For positrons

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 Radiative stopping power

 Bremsstrahlung occurs when a beta particle is deflected in the electric field of a

nucleus and, to a lesser extent, in the field of an atomic electron. At high beta-
particle energies, the radiation is emitted mostly in the forward direction, that is,
in the direction of travel of the beta particle.

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 Accelerated charged particle: emission of radiation

 An accelerated or decelerated charged particle emits some of its kinetic energy

in the form of photons referred to as bremsstrahlung radiation.
 The intensity of the emitted radiation is defined as the energy flow per unit area
𝐴𝐴 per unit time 𝑡𝑡 and is given by the Poynting vector 𝑆𝑆

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 Radiation power emitted by accelerated charged particle

 The power 𝑃𝑃 (energy per unit time) emitted by the accelerated charged particle
in the form of bremsstrahlung radiation is obtained by

Larmor formula

 Cross section for emission of bremsstrahlung (Hans Bethe and Walter Heitler)

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 Total mass stopping power for electrons

 Approximate formula

𝐸𝐸: total energy in MeV

 Radiation yield (radiation loss

divided by total loss)

𝑇𝑇: incident kinetic energy in MeV

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 Stopping power of water for various charged particles

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 Range

 The range of a charged particle is the distance it travels before coming to rest.
The reciprocal of the stopping power gives the distance traveled per unit energy
loss. Therefore, the range 𝑅𝑅(𝑇𝑇) of a particle of kinetic energy 𝑇𝑇 is the integral of
this quantity down to zero energy:

0 𝑇𝑇 −1 𝑇𝑇
𝑑𝑑𝑥𝑥 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
𝑅𝑅 𝑇𝑇 = � 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = � − 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = �
𝑇𝑇 𝑑𝑑𝐸𝐸 0 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 0 𝑆𝑆(𝐸𝐸)

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 Range

 Most of the collision and radiation interactions individually transfer only minute
fractions of the incident particle’s kinetic energy, and it is convenient to think of
the particle that is moving through an absorber as losing its kinetic energy
gradually and continuously in a process often referred to as the “continuous
slowing down approximation” (CSDA).

 The CSDA range is a calculated quantity that

represents the mean path length along the particle’s
trajectory and not necessarily the depth of penetration
in a defined direction in the absorbing medium.

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 Range: air vs. water

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 Specific ionization

 The average number of ion pairs that a particle produces per unit distance
traveled is called the specific ionization. This quantity, which expresses the
density of ionizations along a track, is often considered in studying the response
of materials to radiation and in interpreting some biological effects.
 The specific ionization of a particle at a given energy is equal to the stopping
power divided by the average energy required to produce an ion pair at that
particle energy.

1 𝑑𝑑𝐸𝐸
Specific ionization =
𝑊𝑊 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑

required energy energy loss

one ion pair unit length

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 Bragg curve and Bragg peak (1903)

 Stopping of 100-MeV proton in various materials

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 Application: cancer therapy

Protons: 135 MeV 𝛼𝛼 → 𝐻𝐻2 𝑂𝑂(𝑙𝑙)

Carbon ions: 3000 MeV
Electrons: 20 MeV

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 Application: semiconductor doping

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 Homework

 J. Turner, Atoms, Radiation, and Radiation Detection, Wiley (2007), chapter 5

Problems: 22, 26
 J. Turner, Atoms, Radiation, and Radiation Detection, Wiley (2007), chapter 6
Problems: 14

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