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Introduction
Theory
hc
(2)
Combining (1) and (2), we can get a relationship between angle and photon
energy,
E0E
me c2
=
0
EE
1 cos
or,
E
me c2
E0 =
me c 2
1 cos E + 1cos
or,
0
E =E
me c2
(E + me c2 ) E cos
(3)
In the lab we calculate scattered photon energy for a number of different angles,
and plot the data. Then this plot of data can be compared to a graph of (3) to
see how well our data compares to the theoretical description.
We will also determine the relationship between material density and thickness and photon cross-section. The transmission rate of gamma rays through a
material of thickness x is given by,
I(x) = I0 e
1
x/
(4)
Where is the mean free path between scattering events, and I0 is the incident
scattering rate. is also related to the Compton scattering cross-section, c ,
c =
1
ne
(5)
a(x+b)2
(6)
c0 e
dx = c0
a
c0 e((xb)/c)
ln 2
+d
We can ignore d (it is determined by the background which we dont care about
here), therefore a from equation 6 is ln(2)
c2 . The integrals of the fits can be
calculated this way.
We will also need to calculate the solid angle of a number of objects in
reference to the source. To do this we will use the equation,
=
A
d2
d is the distance between the source and the object, while A is the 2D area of the
object as seen from the source. All our object will have circular cross-sections
so we can simplify this to,
r2
= 2
d
Description of Apparatus
Our gamma ray source was a 137 Cs source similar to what has been used in
previous labs. This was loaded into a circular metal tube encased in lead blocks.
There is a smallish hole in one of the lead blocks near the opening of the metal
tube. On the other side of the hole is a vertically oriented plastic scintillator
detector. Away from the plastic scintillator a NaI scintillator is attached to
a swiveling mount that can be moved around in a horizontal circle with the
plastic scintillator at the center. There are markings around the circle such
that the position of the NaI scintillator can be set to a specific angle. The
plastic scintillator will be used to register that a photon has scattered on it,
2
and set such that the NaI output is sent to the PHA when there is a coinciding
pulse on each detector.
Figure 1: NaI detector (far left), lead brick box, plastic scintillator (red), and
turntable (big silver disk)
The electronics were connected with coaxial cables (BNC or LEMO), and
scope traces were properly terminated. A normal two channel analog oscilloscope was used. We used a dual gate generator, discriminator, Ortec 575A
pulse-shaping amplifier, preamp, and a ccmputer. The preamp and Ortec amplifier were used to boost the signal of the NaI detector to be analyzed by PHA
software on the computer. The discriminator and gate generator are used to allow coincidence between the plastic detector and the sodium detector, by adding
a proper amount of delay and changing the size of the pulses.
Figure 2: Left to Right: Ortec amp, discriminator, and dual gate generator.
Procedure
4.1
Turn on the scope and power up the detectors (+1000V for the NaI and
+750V for the plastic).
Obtain a 22 Na source and place it the same distance, at least 10 cm, from
each detector.
Observe the output of the detectors on the scope (terminate with 50 to
make sure that the detectors are operating properly.
Once the detectors seem to be operating properly, attach the NaI detector
output to the preamp and then the pulse-shaping amplifier.
Set the pulse-shaping amplifier to output a positive going pulse with a
max amplitude of about 7 V (dont terminate here).
Adjust the Pole-zero screw on the shaping amplifier to obtain a pulse
with no over- or undershoot.
The output of the shaping amplifier is then connected to Ch 0 on the
back of the computer.
The plastic scintillator output is connected to the discriminator, the discriminator threshold is set at 30 mV, and the pulse width is set at about
30 ns.
4.2
4.3
The computer PHA software must be set to take pulses only from channel
0.
Place a 137 Cs source near enough to the NaI detector to get a solid response, but not too many pulses to swamp the detector.
While viewing the output of the shaping amplifier on the scope adjust the
gain so the max peak height is about +8.5 V.
Take a spectrum of the source on the PHA and send it to another computer
to be analyzed during while taking other data
Repeat the above steps for
4.4
133
Ba and
22
Na.
Compton Scattering
Place the 137 Cs source in the metal tube that is incased in lead bricks such
that the black head of the source is flush with the opening of the metal
tube.
The detector positions should be adjusted such that the target (the plastic
scintillator) is 20 cm from the detector (the NaI scintillator), and the target
is 20 cm from the source.
With the PHA set on coincidence counting take spectrums with the detector at 80, 20, 140, 60, 120, 40, and 100.
The spectrums must be ran for at least 10 minutes to have quality data.
While spectrums are being taken, previous spectrums can be analyzed
with Gaussian distributions.
5
4.5
Spectrum Calibration
Our first step was to develop a calibration curve between photon energy and
peak height in the PHA software on the computer. To do this we obtained
spectrums from a number of radioactive sources with known photon energies,
and fit gaussian functions to their photopeaks. 137 Cs signal was set to about
such that the computer was receiving a max of 8.5 V pulses. From these fits
we obtained values for peak height and FWHM. From the FWHM we found
the uncertainty using the relationship described in the theory section of this lab
report.
Source
137
Cs
133
Ba
22
Na
137
Cs X-ray peak
Known (MeV)
0.662
0.356
0.511
0.0322
Uncertainty
0.14370276
0.09736603
0.126196178
0.024821656
These data points were used in a weighed fit in Mathematica. Here is a plot of
the data with the corresponding fit.
Exercise 1
The 60 Co source is the brightest source we have available to us in the lab.
This means its photons have the most energy giving us a brighter signal overall. However, the 60 Co source would be inappropriate for this lab because it
has two photon photopeaks of approximately the same energy. When used to
take Compton scattering data the two photons would interfere and skew the
scattering photopeak. The scattered photopeak data is already pretty messy,
and two photopeaks close together would only get closer after scattering. It
would be hard to discern the two closely-spaced, broadened photopeaks from
each other, and the fitting software would have a hell of a time fitting a Gaussian
distribution to the data. The cesium source is the next brightest source after
cobalt that we have available to us in the lab, and it only has one photopeak.
This makes it the ideal candidate for this experiment.
Exercise 2
The present activity of the cesium source is 63.51 Ci or 2.35 106 disintegrations per second. This corresponds to 2.35 106 photons created per second.
We will assume that all the photons that go through the hole in the brick hit
the target scintillator, and that the source radiates evenly in all directions on
the average. The distance between the hole and the source is (5.5 0.1) cm
and the radius of the hole is (1.3 0.1) cm. The solid angle of the hole is then,
target =
1.32
5.52
target = 0.1755 sr
6 photons
4 is the max solid angle so 0.1755
/sec = 3.28 104 photons/sec
4 (2.35 10 )
should be the number of photons that the target sees per second. The uncertainty is,
s
2
2
2
r +
d2
target =
r
d
s
2
2
2r
2r2
2
target =
r +
d2
d2
d3
target
2.82
39.52
target = 0.01578 sr
s
2
2
2r
2r2
2
=
r +
d2
d2
d3
Compton Fit
After completing the spectrum calibration, we took PHA data at a number of
different angles between 0 and 140 with the 137 Cs source. We fit Gaussian
distributions to the photopeaks of the spectrums we obtained.
10
Number of Slabs
0
1
2
3
4
5
Thickness (cm)
0
1.1
2.2
3.3
4.4
5.5
c0
4298.415511
3875.51673
3419.291378
3217.38409
2818.782336
2505.383064
c
0.32358
0.318768
0.315751
0.328767
0.329851
0.333582
The area under the curve is the number of photons that hit the detector in 3
minutes. Therefore, this is already in units of photons/time. This rate was then
plotted with its corresponding plastic thickness. An exponential fit of the form
of equation 4 was then fit to the points and a value for was determined. The
fit ended up being,
2961.09e0.0932369x
Where = (10.7 0.4)cm (the uncertainty was determined by the fitting software). The fit looks like so,
Figure 5:
We can get an idea for ne from the density of Lucite (1.18 g/cm3 ). The
chemical formula is (C5 O2 H8 )n , so the molar mass is (2(15.999) + 5(12.011)
+ 8(1.0079) = 100.1162)g/mol. Dividing the density by the molar mass we get
0.0117863 mol/cm3 . This corresponds to 7.095 1021 molecules/cm3 . There are
(2(16) + 5(12) + 8(1) = 100) electrons in each molecule. Therefore, there are
about 7.095 1023 electrons/cm3 . This is ne . Plugging ne and into equation
5 we get c = 1.317 1025 cm2 . This can be rewritten c = 131.7 mb. The
11
2 ne
Results
Our angle scattering data coincides pretty well with the expected theoretical
function. The one major outlier probably picked up non-scattered photons
directly from the source. Besides that the data points were all within one and a
half standard deviations of the theoretical function. Our value for the Compton
scattering cross-section does not agree with the literature value. However, we
are at least on the same order of magnitude. Our fit was not amazing, but it
wasnt awful. The reason for the difference between the literature value and
our calculated value probably lies in the calculation of ne . Maybe not all of the
electrons in the Lucite molecules can undergo Compton scattering with photons
of the energy of our source.
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