X Ray Physics
X Ray Physics
PREPARATORY QUESTIONS
SAFETY
Personal Health and Safety
The carcinogenic properties of x rays and other ionizing radiations have been known since the 1940s. Exposures significantly exceeding that due to natural sources
such as cosmic rays and background radioactivity must
therefore be avoided. The sources used in the present
experiment have been approved by the MIT Radiation
Safety Program for educational use. They are not dangerous if handled with appropriate caution. You are
urged to determine the exposures you may receive in various manipulations of the laboratory sources by making
suitable measurements with the laboratory radiation survey meters.
The two primary sources of radiation in this experiment, 241 Am (an alpha emitter) and 90 Sr (a high-energy
beta emitter), should be transported from their storage
locker to the experiment quickly. For the safety of others
in the laboratory, they may never be left out unattended.
In particular, the 90 Sr source must be positioned during the experiment such that its beam is well contained
around the apparatus. Use lead shielding as necessary to
minimize radiation in an undesirable direction.
The 90 Sr source is contained in an aluminum and leadlined container (see Figure 3) which can be placed on
the small wooden stand next to the detector so that the
hole behind the lead shutter is aligned with the entrance
window of the detector. CAUTION: Avoid exposing your hands to the radiation emerging from
the hole in the lead lined box. The 90 Sr source
is quite strong (several millicuries) and the electrons which it emits readily bounce off lead nuclei
Equipment Safety
The detector used in this experiment has a few important operating requirements to keep in mind in order to
avoid damaging its delicate and expensive components.
Please observe the following precautions:
1. Never touch the carbon fiber window. Leave
the polyethylene cover on. It only attenuates x rays
below 10 keV.
2. The field effect transistor in the preamplifier
attached to the detector is easily damaged
and costly to replace. Be sure the preamplifier
is powered (from the back of the NIM bin) before
turning on the high voltage bias.
3. Slowly raise the bias voltage to about +3000 VDC.
(Be sure of the polarity!) Be careful when you apply this and take standard electrical safety precautions.
4. Ask an instructor to oversee your first use of the
system and ensure there is enough liquid nitrogen
in the cryostat.
I.
INTRODUCTION
The consequences of R
ontgens discovery for physics
were profound. Six years previously Hertz had discovered
electromagnetic radiation (gigahertz radio waves) with
wavelengths a million times longer than that of visible
light. R
ontgens work showed how to generate electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ten thousand times
shorter. Such wavelengths are comparable to atomic dimensions. As a consequence, x rays proved to be a powerful means for exploring the atomic structure of matter as well as the structure of atoms themselves. Over
the next 30 years the discovery and measurement of xray phenomena played a central role in the development
of the modern quantum theory of matter and radiation.
R
ontgen was awarded the first Nobel Prize in Physics in
1901 [6].
In the present experiment you will use a germanium
solid-state x-ray spectrometer to study a variety of phenomena involving the interactions of high-energy photons and matter. The introductory part is a study of
x ray production by irradiation of matter by electrons
and x rays. It is intended to familiarize you with the
equipment and some of the basic physics of x rays. The
rest is a menu of possible studies you can pursue as time
permits.
II.
THEORY
II.1.
Level
K
L1
L2
Electron
config.
1s1
2s1
2p1
L3
2p1
3/2
M1
3s
M2
3p1
N6
M3
3p1
3/2
3d1
3/2
3d1
5/2
N7
M4
M5
Level
N1
N2
N3
Electron
config.
4s1
4p1
4p1
3/2
O1
O2
O3
Electron
config.
5s1
5p1
5p1
3/2
N4
4d1
3/2
O4
5d1
3/2
N5
4d1
5/2
4f1
5/2
4f1
7/2
O5
5d1
5/2
O6
5f1
5/2
O7
5f1
7/2
IUPAC
KL3
KL2
KM3
KN3
Siegbahn
L1
L2
L1
L2
IUPAC
L3 M5
L3 M4
L2 M4
L3 N5
x ray range. The high-energy photon production processes you will explore are:
Bremsstrahlung: (braking radiation) An energetic
electron which undergoes a sudden acceleration
caused by interaction with a high-Z nucleus has a
high probability of emitting a bremsstrahlung photon with an energy ranging from zero to the full
kinetic energy of the electron. The spectrum of
the x rays radiated from the target of an electron
beam consists of a bremsstrahlung continuum with
a maximum energy cutoff equal to the kinetic energy of the electrons in the beam. For example, for
electrons of charge e accelerated by an applied voltage V , the maximum energy in the bremsstrahlung
spectrum would be V e. In this experiment, the
source of energetic electrons is a millicurie-level
sample of 90 Sr, which beta-decays with a 29-year
half life and maximum electron energy of 0.5 MeV
to 90 Y which in turn beta decays with a 64-hour
half life and maximum electron energy of 2.3 MeV
to 90 Zr.
X-ray fluorescence via charged particles: When
an energetic electron or other charged particle
(e.g. an alpha particle) interacts with an atom
it may eject an electron from one of the inner
shells. The resulting ion relaxes from its excited
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Frn. VIII-17. Qualitative term diagram for X-ray levels, showing lines in the K, L, and M series.
No
II.2.
An x-ray photon can interact with the germanium crystal used as a detector in this experiment by:
1. Photoelectric absorption by an atom, resulting in
the disappearance of the photon and the creation
of an excited ion through ejection from the atom of
an electron with an amount of kinetic energy equal
to the original energy of the photon less the energy
required to remove the electron from the atom.
2. Compton scattering by a loosely bound electron,
resulting in a recoil electron and a scattered photon
of lowered energy which may escape the crystal.
3. Pair creation, if the energy of the incident photon
is sufficiently large (h > 2me c2 ). The result is the
disappearance of the photon and the materialization of an electron and positron with an amount of
energy approximately equal to that of the incident
photon less the rest energy of two electrons.
4. Coherent scattering by the bound electrons of an
atom, resulting in a scattered photon of slightly
reduced energy, which may be neglected here.
Interaction of an incident photon by process 1, 2, or 3
is the start of a complex degradation process that involves multiple Coulomb interactions of the Comptonrecoil, photoelectric-ejected, or pair-created electrons
with atoms of the crystal, as well as interaction or escape of photons that may emerge from the interactions.
The Coulomb interactions excite valence electrons into
the conduction band, thereby giving rise to mobile charge
that is swept by the bias voltage onto the emitter of the
FET in the preamplifier.
In the case of a primary photoelectric interaction, the
excited ion, missing an inner-shell electron, decays by
a cascade of transitions in which electrons from outer
shells fall inward, terminating finally with the capture
of a stray electron into the valence shell. Each decay
transition produces a photon of a certain characteristic
energy, which may then further interact with the crystal.
In pair production, if the positron comes to rest in the
crystal it will combine with an electron and annihilate
with the production of two photons traveling in opposite
directions. If all the energy of the original photon finally
appears as the kinetic energy of secondary electrons in
the crystal, then the amplitude of the resulting charge
pulse will be accurately proportional to the energy of the
incident photon; this is the ideal situation desired in x-ray
II.3.
k = C(Z ),
(1)
where C is a coefficient with units of length that depends on the type of x-ray line, and is a unitless value
that accounts for electron shielding, making Z an
effective nuclear charge.
He measured the wave numbers directly by Bragg reflection spectrometry, using crystals with known lattice
spacings. The x-ray energies are related to wave numbers
by the Planck formula
E = hck,
(2)
E = C 0 (Z ).
(3)
This equation can be used to predict the characteristic xray energies for elements as a function of atomic number.
Moreover, measurements of photon energies can be used
to determine the identity of an unknown material. This
is the basis of x-ray spectroscopy.
III.
APPARATUS
Figure 2 is a block diagram of the electronic equipment. The detector is a Canberra model BE2020 highpurity germanium broad energy x-ray detector connected
through a preamplifier to an amplifier, and thence to a
multichannel analyzer (MCA). The preamplifier is permanently mounted on the detector. The amplifier is
a spectroscopy grade unit, with coarse gain variable in
steps and a continuous fine gain control. The signal
pulses from the preamplifier are positive. Positive pulses
from the amplifier are fed directly to the ADC input
of the MCA which takes 010 volt positive pulses with
widths greater than 2 s. (Use of the bipolar output assures that the baseline is restored after each pulse, but is
discouraged unless you encounter extremely high count
Pulser
T
E
Detector
Pre-amplifier
Amplifier
rates.) The MCA sorts the pulses according to their amplitudes and records the number of pulses in each of 2048
amplitude intervals known as channels or bins. A
histogram display of these numbers is generated by the
MCA and represents the energy spectrum of the detected
x rays.
III.1.
Detector
The detector is a single crystal of p-n doped germanium mounted behind a thin carbon fiber window in a
vacuum. To reduce thermal noise, it is connected to a
copper cold finger which dips into liquid nitrogen contained in a large Dewar below the detector. This arrangement conducts heat away from the crystal and keeps the
detector at a temperature near 80 K, assuring that the
rate at which electrons are thermally excited into the
conduction band of the crystal is very low. The crystal
is reverse-biased by more than +3000 VDC in order to
sweep out any conduction electrons that appear. The
depletion zone in the biased crystal is effectively an
insulator. Only photoelectrons ejected from germanium
atoms excited by incident x rays (or as a result of rare
thermal excitations) will conduct, thus producing a signal. Around 1.8 eV is needed on average to produce an
electron-hole pair in a germanium crystal.
IV.
III.2.
Starting Up
MEASUREMENTS
IV.2.
slot for lead target
90Sr
beta source
lead shutter
lead shielding
maximum (FWHM), and the region of interest (ROI) feature to determine total counts and area under the peaks.
You may also save the data file from the MCA for further analysis. As always, do not leave simple analysis for
after the conclusion of your lab session. Plot simple relations among data as you acquire them to confirm that
the experiment is proceeding according to expectations.
Record pertinent details about all saved data files in your
notebook.
Moseleys Law
Target
IV.1.
Cu
Rb
Mo
Ag
Ba
Tb
a
b
Energya (keV)
K
K
8.04
8.91
13.37
14.97
17.44
19.63
22.10
24.99
32.06
36.55
44.23
50.65
Photon yieldb
(sec1 sr1 )
2,500
8,800
24,000
38,000
46,000
76,000
Place the variable energy x-ray source (see the specification sheet taped to the wall next to the radioactive
source storage cabinet) in front of the detector and record
the channel numbers of the K lines of terbium (Tb),
barium (Ba), silver (Ag), molybdenum (Mo), rubidium
(Rb), and copper (Cu). In each case, obtain about 10,000
counts in the major peak and measure as precisely as you
can the peak position, the FWHM and the total count under every significant peak observed. You may see peaks
from the americium gamma rays, neptunium x rays, escape peaks, etc. Search for L lines at low energies for the
higher-Z elements. In each case, print the MCA display,
documenting the run in your notebook.
To simplify the analysis, try to cover the total energy
range of the various spectra with one setting of the gain.
IV.4.
Attenuation Coefficients
IV.5.
IV.6.
e+ e Annihilation Radiation
IV.7.
Challenge Projects
1. Place a 137 Cs calibration source close to the detector window and reduce the amplifier gain so as to
place the needle-sharp 661.63 keV gamma-ray line
near the right-hand side of the MCA display. Dont
be confused by the higher level reset pulse from
the detector preamplifier. Accumulate the spectrum for about one hour. Measure channel positions of all the features you can discern. Download
the spectrum for later detailed analysis. Try to provide a physics explanation for each of the features,
making good use of the data on gamma-ray and
x-ray energies in the CRC Handbook.
2. Do the same with the
133
Ba calibration source.
3. With the system calibrated by x rays of known energy, try to determine the elemental composition
of the United States quarter coin by measuring the
spectrum of its fluorescent x rays.
4. Using the Ag source in the Amersham source, compare the absorption cross sections of cadmium and
palladium for the KL and KM lines of silver.
Can you explain the difference in light of the fact
that cadmium and palladium do not differ much in
atomic number? You can observe a similar difference between the absorption cross sections of various metals with Z near 25 for x rays from a 55 Fe
source.
5. Place a lead sheet in the beam of electrons emitted
by 90 Sr in the plastic box to produce a continuum
spectrum of bremsstrahlung radiation. Insert a foil
of molybdenum in the slot between the lead target
and the detector. Observe the details of the spectrum in the range of energies around the KL (K)
line of molybdenum. Observe the KL absorption
line, and explain how its place in the spectrum is
related to the KL line.
V.
V.1.
ANALYSIS
gies of these lines. Compare these energies to the characteristic energies of the metal from which they were
recorded. Then check the energies from the unknown
metals. Use the measured characteristic x-ray energies
and count rates to identify the percent composition of
the metal.
V.3.
Bremsstrahlung Analysis
V.4.
Using the KL lines of lead and the 511 keV line from
the 22 Na calibration gamma-ray source as calibrators,
determine the high-energy cutoff of the bremsstrahlung
spectrum. How does it compare with the end point of
the energy spectrum of the beta rays from 90 Sr and 90 Y
(consult the CRC tables)?
V.2.
Fluorescence Analysis
Try to identify all the lines found in the various xray spectra. Use the calibration to identify the ener-
Plot the natural log of the count rate against the thickness of the attenuator. Check whether the data conform
to the formula for exponential attenuation, namely
I(x)
I(x) = I0 ex ln
= x,
(4)
I0
where x is the thickness and is a constant called the
attenuation coefficient. Dividing by the density of the
material gives a more useful quantity known as the
mass attenuation coefficient.
Fit a straight line to the log plot. From the slope, determine the mass attenuation coefficient and the attenuation cross section. Repeat for each energy and each element, and summarize your results in tabular and graphical form. What regularities do you perceive? (You may
find log-log plots of cross section versus energy or Z useful).
1. Atomic structure and the explanation of the Moseley relation between K-line energies and atomic
number Z
2. Compton scattering
3. Classical theory of the Thomson scattering cross
section of the electron, e.g. Reference [10]
4. The bremsstrahlung spectrum, e.g. Reference [11]
5. Attenuation of an x-ray beam in matter, e.g. Reference [10]
6. The theory of the high-purity germanium detector,
e.g. Reference [2]
The significance of Rontgens discovery for medical diagnosis was quickly recognized. Kaisers, queens, and
lesser folk shared the wonder of gazing at the interior
structure of living bodies without cutting them open. In
the 1930s children could spend hours at the shoe store
amusing themselves by wiggling their toes in the x-ray
fluoroscope used to judge the fit of new shoes. Millions
had their chests regularly examined by high-dose x-ray
photography for signs of tuberculosis. Today, x rays are
of critical importance in the fields of medical imaging;
material science, for determining both composition and
structure; transportation security, for example airport
baggage inspection; microscopes with suboptical resolution; astrophysics and cosmology; crystallography, such
as the famous example of Rosalind Franklins discovery
of the double helix structure of DNA; and observing fast
reactions with synchrotron radiation.
The classic way to generate x rays is to bombard a
metal target with a beam of energetic electrons. A typical
commercial x-ray generator, such as one used by a dentist or an airport baggage inspection system, employs a
vacuum tube in which electrons emitted from a filamentheated cathode are accelerated by an electric field supported by a high-voltage (say, 50 kV) power supply and
strike a metal anode target. The spectrum of the x rays
radiated from the target consists of a bremsstrahlung
continuum with an energy cutoff at hc
= V e (V is the
voltage of the power supply), and narrow lines with wavelengths characteristic of the target material.
After Rontgens 1895 discovery of x rays, the most
important landmarks in the fields subsequent development included von Laues discovery of x-ray diffraction
by crystals, Moseleys discovery of the relation between
atomic number and the wavelengths of the characteristic x rays emitted by the elements, Siegbahns studies in
x-ray spectroscopy [12] and Comptons discovery of the
quantum character of the scattering of x rays from free
electrons [7, 13, 14].
R
ontgen initially thought tentatively and incorrectly that the new rays he had discovered were
longitudinal electromagnetic waves. The high-frequency
transverse wave nature of x rays was finally proved sixteen years later by von Laues discovery of the diffraction
of x rays by crystals.
10