Department of Quantum Nuclear Engineering

Interaction of Radiation with Matter

(방사선과 물질상호작용)

Course : 008994
Semester : Fall 2023
Instructor: Kyung Taek Lim
List of Topics
 Types of interactions
 “Soft collisions”
 “Hard collisions”
 Coulomb interactions with the nucleus
 Nuclear reactions (by heavy particles)
 Stopping power
 Mass stopping power for heavy particles
 Mass stopping power for light particles
 Total stopping powers
 Ranges
 CSDA range
 Projected range
 Range of heavy particles
 Range of light particles

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Range of Charged Particle
Definition of Range
 Range (Rproject)
 Average maximum depth of penetration

 Continuous-Slowing-Down-Approximation (CSDA) range (RCSDA)

 Average total path length in the medium
 Very close to the expectation value of the pathlength ‘p’ that the particle follows until it
comes to rest

𝑅𝑅𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 ≅ 𝐸𝐸 𝑝𝑝 = 𝑝𝑝̅

19
CSDA Range
 CSDA range is defined in terms of the mass stopping power, where To is the starting
energy of the particle

 How to calculate a CSDA range (RCSDA)?

𝑇𝑇0 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 −1
 𝑅𝑅𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 = ∫0 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 (𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐) or

𝑇𝑇0 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 −1 𝑔𝑔
= ∫0 𝜌𝜌𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐2

 If dT/ρdx is in MeV cm2/g and dT in MeV, then RCSDA is given in g/cm2.

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CSDA Range for proton
 CSDA range of proton in graphite can be approximately calculated (that is, within 5%):

 How to calculate a CSDA range (RCSDA)?

𝑝𝑝 1.77 𝑝𝑝
𝑇𝑇𝑜𝑜 1 𝑇𝑇𝑜𝑜 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀
 𝑅𝑅𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶,𝑝𝑝 𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔 = +
415 670
𝑝𝑝
𝑅𝑅𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑔𝑔/𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐2

 The proton range in “different medium” can be calculated using the following equation

𝑝𝑝 𝑍𝑍 𝑥𝑥
 𝑅𝑅𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶,𝑝𝑝 ≅ 𝑅𝑅𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 (𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔)
6

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CSDA Range for proton
 In general, RCSDA of a HCP with rest mass Mo and kinetic energy To can be determined
from the CSDA range of a proton as follows:
Step 1) Determine the kinetic energy of the proton that has the same velocity with
that of the heavy particle under consideration

𝑝𝑝 𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝
𝑇𝑇𝑜𝑜 = 𝑇𝑇𝑜𝑜 ×
𝑀𝑀𝑜𝑜

Step 2) Obtain the RCSDA of the proton for the calculated kinetic energy by using the
equation given in this lecture or from the PSTAR database (shown in the end)

Step 3) Finally, the RCSDA of HCP is calculated by…

𝑝𝑝 𝑀𝑀𝑜𝑜 1
𝑅𝑅𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 = 𝑅𝑅𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 × ×
𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝 𝑧𝑧 2
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Example
 Determine the CSDA range of 1200-MeV 12C-particle in copper

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Three Different Types of Ranges in α
 Mean range: Absorber thickness that reduce the alpha particle counts to ½ of its
values in the absence of the absorber

 Extrapolating range: Obtained by extrapolating the linear portion of the end of the
transmission curve to zero (measured count is practically zero)  Projected range!

 Maximum range :Absorbing thickness when the count is zero

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Projected range
 The projected range <t> (of a charged particle in a given medium) is the expectation value

of the farthest depth of penetration (tf) of the particle in its initial direction

<t> ≅ 𝐸𝐸 𝑡𝑡𝑓𝑓 = 𝑡𝑡�𝑓𝑓

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Projected range

 This range can be determined by an experiment, in which we count the number of particles

that penetrate an absorbing slab, increasing the thickness of the absorbing slab

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Projected range

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Projected range
 N(t) is the number of particles that penetrates a slab of thickness t

 No’ is the real number of incident particles

 N𝑜𝑜 is the number of incident particles minus those that undergo nuclear reactions (including

large-angle deflection)

 dN(t)/dt is the differential distribution.

 Note that dN(t)/dt, which is the slop of the curve penetrating particles vs. t, is always

negative or zero

 In that case, we can calculate <t> as follows:

∞ 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑(𝑡𝑡)
∫0 𝑡𝑡 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
< 𝑡𝑡 > =
∞ 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑(𝑡𝑡)
∫0 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
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Projected range
 N(t) is the number of particles that penetrates a slab of thickness t

 No’ is the real number of incident particles

 N𝑜𝑜 is the number of incident particles minus those that undergo nuclear reactions (including

large-angle deflection)

 dN(t)/dt is the differential distribution.

 Note that dN(t)/dt, which is the slop of the curve penetrating particles vs. t, is always

negative or zero

 In that case, we can calculate <t> as follows:

∞ 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑(𝑡𝑡)
∫0 𝑡𝑡 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
< 𝑡𝑡 > =
∞ 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑(𝑡𝑡)
∫0 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
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Projected range
 The following figure shows a typical location of the projected range <t>

 Note that the projected range <t> is calculated on the basis of No (the dotted line), not No’

 The <t> is sometimes known as the ‘extrapolated’ range (Re)

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Projected range
 The projected range <t> can be easily calculated by the SRIM code for HCP

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Range (Alpha and Proton in Water)

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CSDA Range vs. Projected Range (Alpha in Water)

Data source: NIST

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Maximum range

 Maximum penetration depth (tmax):

 the value of t beyond which no particles are observed to penetrate.
 This is also known as the maximum range (Rm)

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Maximum range

 Note that for HCP

 What about the light particles?

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Range of HCP
 Range of heavy charged particles can be obtained by:
 Graph or table of experimental or calculated range data
 See figures from NIST and tables from ICRP 49
 Semiempirical formula
 Range is provided by formula, which approximates the experimental data

 Semiempirical formula of alpha range in air at STP

Valid for p,d,t, alpha
 𝑅𝑅 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚, 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 = 0.1 × exp 1.61 𝑇𝑇(𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀) 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 1 ≤ 𝑇𝑇 ≤ 4 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 1≤A≤4
3
 𝑅𝑅 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚, 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 = 0.05𝑇𝑇 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 + 2.85 × 𝑇𝑇 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 2 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 4 < 𝑇𝑇 ≤ 15 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀
 T is the kinetic energy of the particle in MeV
 Generally, energy of alpha particle from radionuclides is 4~8 MeV
 Range of 4 MeV alpha is about 25 mm in air

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Semiempirical Formula of Alpha Range in Air
 Semiempirical formula approximates experimental data. Therefore, the formula can
vary depending on approximation

 You can find different formulae for charged particle range (that is, Alpha)
 In Attix

 𝑅𝑅 𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎, 𝒂𝒂𝒂𝒂𝒂𝒂 = 𝟎𝟎. 𝟏𝟏 × 𝒆𝒆𝒆𝒆𝒆𝒆 𝟏𝟏. 𝟔𝟔𝟔𝟔 𝑻𝑻(𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴) 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 1 ≤ 𝑇𝑇 ≤ 4 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀

𝟑𝟑
 𝑹𝑹 𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎, 𝒂𝒂𝒂𝒂𝒂𝒂 = 𝟎𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴 + 𝟐𝟐. 𝟖𝟖𝟖𝟖 × 𝑻𝑻 𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴 𝟐𝟐 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 4 < 𝑇𝑇 ≤ 15 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀

 In Turner and Cember

 𝑅𝑅 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 = 0.56𝑇𝑇 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 𝑇𝑇 < 4 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀
 𝑅𝑅 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 = 1.24𝑇𝑇 − 2.62 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 4 < 𝑇𝑇 < 8 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀

 Simple expression
 𝑹𝑹 𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄 = 𝟎𝟎. 𝟑𝟑𝟑𝟑𝑻𝑻𝟏𝟏.𝟓𝟓 𝒇𝒇𝒇𝒇𝒇𝒇 𝟒𝟒 ≤ 𝑻𝑻 ≤ 𝟖𝟖 𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴

37
Charged Particle Range from Radiation Protection Aspect
 In general, charged particle (especially HCPs) range is very short!
 One can protect alpha particle even with a piece of paper
 Thus, charged particles (alpha, proton, beta) are not important for external exposure
because thy cannot penetrate skin and give dose (radiation energy) to organs and
tissues in human body
 But, when they are inside the human body, they are very much concern because there
is no protective layer (like skin) in internal organ tissues  all the energy from the
charged particle will be absorbed by the tissue
 In addition, the weight factor alpha is 5-10
 Radiation weighting factor = Relative biological effect by radiation type
 Radiation weight factor of photon = 1 (so alpha is more dangerous by ~ 5-10
times in comparison to photon)

38
Scaling Laws
 It is not possible to make range experiments for all possible incident particles, all possible
absorbing materials at all possible energies

 Range of a given particle in another medium (1 vs. 2)

 Bragg-Kleeman Rule

𝑅𝑅𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 2 𝜌𝜌1 𝐴𝐴2

 ≅
𝑅𝑅𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 1 𝜌𝜌2 𝐴𝐴1

 For a compound or mixture, use the effective mass number:

1 𝑤𝑤𝑖𝑖
 ≅ ∑𝑖𝑖
𝐴𝐴𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 𝐴𝐴𝑖𝑖

𝐴𝐴𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒
 𝑅𝑅 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = 0.336 𝜌𝜌 𝑅𝑅𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 (𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚)
𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘�𝑚𝑚−3

39
Examples
 The range of protons and deuterons can be calculated from the range of an alpha
particle of the same speed:

Rα = Range in air of an alpha particle having the same speed as the deuteron or the proton
M = Mass of the particle (1 for proton, 2 for deuteron)
Mα = Mass of alpha particle = 4

40
Range of another particle (1 vs. 2) in the same medium

 If the velocity of two different charged particles are the same (v1 = v2):

𝑅𝑅𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 2 𝑀𝑀𝑜𝑜 �𝑐𝑐 2 2 𝑍𝑍12

 = � or
𝑅𝑅𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 1 𝑀𝑀𝑜𝑜 �𝑐𝑐 2 1 𝑍𝑍22

𝑀𝑀𝑜𝑜 �𝑐𝑐 2 2 𝑍𝑍12

 𝑅𝑅𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 2 = 𝑀𝑀𝑜𝑜 �𝑐𝑐 2 1
� 𝑍𝑍22
� 𝑅𝑅𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 1

 Example: Alpha vs. Proton in the same medium

2
𝑅𝑅𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 𝑀𝑀𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 𝑍𝑍𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 4�12
 = � 2 = =1
𝑅𝑅𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 𝑀𝑀𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 𝑍𝑍𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 1�22

41
Experimental data vs. Formula

42
Ranges of Electrons and Positrons
 Characteristics of projected ranges of electron (or positron)
 In case of electrons, both nuclear and electron-electron scattering induce the particles to
have a large-angle deflections.
 Therefore, N(t) decreases from very small depth
 The projected range <t> has marginal usefulness in characterizing the penetration depth
of electrons
 The maximum penetration depth (tmax) is more useful

43
Range of beta particles
 The maximum penetration depth, tmax, can be calculation by the following procedures

Step 1) Obtain RCSDA from the ESTAR database, or from any other sources.

Note that RCSDA data are readily available

Step 2) Find tmax/RCSDA by interpolating the data in Table from textbooks

Step 3) Finally, tmax is calculated as

𝑡𝑡𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚
𝑡𝑡𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = × 𝑅𝑅𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶
𝑅𝑅𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶

44
Range of beta particles

45
Extrapolated Range of beta particles
 The extrapolated penetration depth, te, which is obtained by extrapolation of the straight

portion of the descending curve to the axis, in commonly called the extrapolated range

(Re), which is also sometimes called the practical range (Rp)

46
Semiempirical formula
 Projected ranges of electrons in any media For 0.3 keV < T < 30 MeV

47
Semiempirical formula

The range of electrons as a function of their kinetic energy as obtained by The range of electrons as a function of their kinetic energy as obtained by using
using semiempirical formula. The solid circles are experimental data for Al; semiempirical formula. The solid circles are experimental data for Ag; the open
the open circles are for Cu. (From Tabata, T., Ito, R., and Okabe, S., Nucl. circles are for Au. (From Tabata, T., Ito, R., and Okabe, S., Nucl. Instrum. Meth.
Instrum. Meth. 103:85;1972.) 103:85;1972.)

Fig. 4.9 and 4.10 of Tsoulfanidis 48

Semiempirical formula (Shultis and Faw, 2000)
 Projected ranges of electrons and positrons

Where
y = log10R(g/cm2)
x = log10T (MeV)
T = Particle kinetic energy in MeV

49
Semiempirical formula for Beta/electron
 One can also find other equations from other textbooks
 For energies from 0.01 MeV to 3 MeV (Turner, Cember, and Lamarsh)

 R(g/cm2) = 0.412 T1.27-0.0954ln(T) 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 0.01 ≤ 𝑇𝑇 < 3 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀

 R(g/cm2) = 0.530T - 0.106 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 𝑇𝑇 > 2.5 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 (𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 20 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀)

 For low Z materials RCSDA ≈ Rproject

 For example, Rproject/RCSDA of carbon is 0.95 (for 0.025 MeV ~ 10 MeV)
 For β, T is the maximum energy of β
 Because the kinetic energies of β radiations is usually less than 3 MeV, we can use the
following equation, where Tmax is the maximum energy of the β particles:

Rm(g/cm2) = 0.412 Tmax1.27-0.0954ln(Tmax)

50
Different types of ranges in beta particles
 Range of β particles
 The typical transmission curve for β particles shows a shape very close to an
exponential attenuation
 In this case, Re does not exist, and we need to use the maximum penetration
depth, tmax (=maximum range, Rm)

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Ranges of Electrons and Positrons
 Characteristics of projected ranges of β particle

 The transmission curve for beta particles emitted by a radioisotope source differs

significantly from that of monoenergetic electron sources because of the continuous

distribution of energies

 The soft or low-energy particles are rapidly absorbed with increasing depth and thus the

initial slope on the attenuation curve is much greater

 For the majority of the spectrum, the curve happens to have a near exponential shape

like photon (only an empirical approximation)

 If can, see Fig. 4.11 in Knoll, Radiation Detection and Measurements

 I = I0e-μt where μ = absorption coefficient

52
Ranges of Electrons and Positrons

Transmission of betas. A corresponding curve for monoenergetic electrons is also shown with Emono = Emax

53
Ranges of Electrons and Positrons

54
Ranges of Electrons and Positrons

55
Range Straggling
 Fluctuation in path length for individual particles

 Details of microscopic interaction vary depending on particle

 It results in a spread of particle energy in medium  Energy straggling

 Like this, the stochastic (or statistical) factors of charged particle interaction results in

fluctuation not only in energy but also in path length of each particle  Range

straggling

56
Summary of terminologies for range
 RCSDA : CSDA range

 <t> : Projected range, mean range

 te : extrapolated penetration depth, extrapolated range (Re), practical range (Rp)

 Tmax : Maximum penetration depth, maximum range (Rm)

 So ask yourself, “what is range?”

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Range of Alpha vs. Electron (β)
 Alpha
 Alpha range is very short
 You can shield alpha even with a piece of paper
 Range = ~ 1.7 cm in air (for E = 3 MeV)

 Electron (or β)
 Longer than alpha particle (but much shorter than photon or neutron)
 You can shield beta particle with thin aluminum
 Range ~ 13 cm in the air for Emax = 3 MeV

58
ESTAR, PASTAR, ASTAR Databases

https://www.nist.gov/pml/stopping-power-range-tables-electrons-protons-and-helium-ions

59
ESTAR, PASTAR, ASTAR Databases
https://www.nist.gov/pml/stopping-power-range-tables-electrons-protons-and-helium-ions

60
ESTAR, PASTAR, ASTAR Databases

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ESTAR, PASTAR, ASTAR Databases

62
ESTAR, PASTAR, ASTAR Databases

63
ESTAR, PASTAR, ASTAR Databases

64
ESTAR, PASTAR, ASTAR Databases

65
ESTAR, PASTAR, ASTAR Databases

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ESTAR, PASTAR, ASTAR Databases

67